/2  .  ff.%%. 


\\\t  fftbrarti  of 
jpfrinrrtnn  Slfwlcgtral  ^tmmx^ 


BV  4832  .H37  1893 

Harris,  J.  Rendel  1852-1941 

Memoranda  sacra 


MEMORANDA   SACRA 


MEMORANDA    SACRA 


BY 


J.    RENDEL    HARRIS 


THIRD    THOUSAND 


A.    D.    F.    RANDOLPH    AN-D    CO. 

182    FIFTH    AVENUE 

MDCCCXCIII 


TO  MY  BELOVED  IN  CHRIST  JESUS 

It  pleased  God,  in  the  days  when  we  used  to 
meet  together  in  Cambridge  for  His  worship  and 
for  personal  help,  to  draw  us  unitedly  very  close 
to  Himself,  so  that  few  of  us  are  likely  to  forget 
the  seasons  of  refreshing  which  we  enjoyed  from 
His  presence  ;  and  if,  by  His  good  providence, 
any  of  us  meet  in  these  later  days,  one  of  the 
readiest  sentences  to  rise  to  our  lips  is  the  word, 
"  Do  you  remember  ?  "  The  papers  which  make 
up  this  little  volume  were  originally  designed  to 
the  same  end,  the  remembrance  of  one  another, 
and  of  the  truths  which  God  taught  us.  How 
often  were  the  pencilled  notes  of  one  and  another 
put  into  my  hand  after  some  bright  and  happy 
meeting,  that  a  few  copies   might  be  made  and 


vi  PREFACE 

circulated  !  It  is  more  than  fourteen  years  since 
this  was  first  done,  and  the  latest  fragment  of  this 
book  is  more  than  ten  years  old.  You  can  see 
the  creases  of  time  in  them,  and,  indeed,  they 
were  never  properly  rounded.  Take  them,  how- 
ever, collected  and  reprinted,  as  a  token  (the  only 
token  I  can  give)  that  the  moth  and  rust  of  time 
have  not  eaten  away  the  affection  which  I  had  for 
you  all,  and  that  those  two  thieves.  Change  and 
Death,  which  were  so  early  busy  with  us,  have 
not  been  able  to  undermine  the  house  of  our  Love, 
nor  abstract  the  treasure  of  our  common  Faith. 

J.  RENDEL  HARRIS. 


Memoranda  Sacra,  by  J.  Rendel  Harris.  It  is  not  oftei^.  that 
one  man  combines  in  himself  such  differing  characteristics  as 
those  of  the  explorer  or  pioneer  in  textual  criticism,  and  the  public 
speaker.  Prof.  Harris  is  very  well  known  as  the  traveler  who  has 
brought  to  light  several  important  documents  of  the  post-apostolic 
age.  In  this  work  however,  he  appears  in  the  character  of  a  sim- 
ple and  winsome  preacher  of  the  gospel.  The  discourses  are  brief, 
clear  and  full  of  devout  sentiment.  One  can  wish  nothing  better 
for  the  world  than  that  the  spirit  which  pervades  them  should  be- 
come universal.      [A.  D.  F.  Randolph  &  Co.,  New  York. 

CONTENTS 


I.  God  the  God  of  the  Living 
II.  Believing  and  Becoming 

III.  Gleaming  as  Crystal    ... 

IV.  Heart  Enlargement     . 
V.  He  Restoreth  my  Soul 

VI.  Addition  and  Multiplication 
VII.  A  Conference  on  Death 
VIII.  Christ  will  take  All  . 
IX.  Strong  Crying      .... 
X.  The  Sentinel  of  the  Heart 
XI.  Thy  Father  in  Secret  . 
XII.  Tests  of  Faith,  Love,  and  Rightness 

XIII.  The  Eternal  Idea 

XIV.  More  Light  ..... 
XV.  Over-overcoming  .... 


3 
17 
31 
45 
61 

75 
87 

lOI 

III 
123 
135 
145 
157 
173 
183 


GOD   THE   GOD   OF   THE   LIVING 


I  AM  afflicted  and  ready  to  die  from  my  youth  up. 

Forasmuch  then  as  the  children  are  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood, 
He  also  Himself  likewise  took  part  of  the  same ;  that  through  death 
He  might  destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the 
devil ;  and  deliver  them  who  through  fear  of  death  were  all  their 
lifetime  subject  to  bondage. 

Who  is  like  unto  Thee,  O  most  mighty  Lord,  for  verily  Thy 
truth  is  on  every  side.  Whither  shall  I  go  from  Thy  Spirit,  or 
whither  shall  I  flee  from  Thy  Presence  ?  If  I  climb  up  into  heaven, 
Thou  art  there.  If  I  go  down  unto  the  dead.  Thou  art  there  also. 
If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning  and  remain  in  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  sea,  even  there  also  shall  Thy  hand  lead  me,  and  Thy 
right  hand  shall  hold  me.  Therefore  when  I  sleep  in  the  grave,  I 
am  in  Thy  cradle ;  and  when  I  shall  arise  up  and  awake,  behold 
around  me  are  Thy  everlasting  arms. 

So  not  alone  we  land  upon  that  shore  : 
'Twill  be  as  though  we  had  been  there  before ; 

We  shall  meet  more  we  know 

Than  we  can  meet  below, 
And  find  our  rest  like  some  returning  dove, 
And  be  at  home  at  once  with  our  Eternal  Love. 


I 

GOD  THE  GOD  OF  THE  LIVING^ 

' '  Now  that  the  dead  are  raised,  even  Moses  shewed  at  the  bush, 
when  he  calls  the  Lord  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of 
Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob.  He  is  not  a  God  of  dead  men, 
but  of  living  men,  for  all  live  unto  Him." — Luke  xx.  37,  38. 

It  is  very  likely  that  some  of  us  may  have  been  per- 
plexed in  the  study  of  this  passage  at  the  answer 
which  the  Lord  Jesus  gave  to  the  Sadducees,  and 
doubtful  as  to  whether  their  difficulties  and  ques- 
tions were  fairly  met  by  the  text  that  He  quoted. 
Certainly  if  we  had  been  told  to  search  the 
Scriptures  for  passages  bearing  on  the  Future  Life 
and  the  doctrine  of  the  Resurrection,  this  is  about 
the    last    text   that   we   should   have   thought   of 

1  In  Menioriam^  Arthur  George  William  Neale,  B.A.  {St.  John's 
College\  who  passed  through  the  veil  \st  July  1880.     Aged  iz  years. 


4  GOD  THE  GOD 

adducing ;  we  should  never  have  detected  in  these 
verses  a  key  that  would  unlock  the  closed  doors 
between  two  worlds  and  make  sunlight  be  where 
previously  all  was  dark. 

And  even  if  we  had  been  pointed  to  this 
passage  containing  the  revelation  of  God  at  the 
bush,  we  should  probably  only  have  seen  in  it 
another  of  the  magnificent  affirmations  of  the 
Divine  self- existence,  another  of  the  grand  "  I 
Am's  "  which  sound  forth  at  times  from  the  mount 
of  cloud  and  vision.  We  might  even  have  gone 
so  far  as  to  see  how  much  more  wonderful  it  is  to 
have  a  faith  in  which,  with  wonderful  simplicity, 
God  says  "  I  Am,"  than  merely  to  have  a  religion 
which  affirms  "  He  is,"  and  we  should  have  been 
glad  that  at  any  time  there  were  men  to  whom 
God  spoke  for  Himself  But  we  should  not  have 
supposed  that  the  statement  had  any  bearing  on 
our  life  and  existence,  or  that  it  solved,  or  put  us 
in  the  way  of  solving,  some  of  the  questions  that 
perplex  us.  Perhaps  the  principal  reason  for  this 
lies  in  the  words  of  Jesus  Himself :  "  Ye  do  not 
understand  the  scriptures  nor  the  power  of  God." 

And  yet  ought  we  not  to  be  aware  of  this,  that 


OF  THE  LIVING  5 

every  revelation  of  God  involves  a  revelation  about 
the  creature,  just  as  the  earth  is  affected  by  every 
potency  and  virtue  in  the  sun  ?  Revelation  is  not 
merely  information  about  God,  without  relation  to 
our  own  life  and  being.  For  instance :  both  the 
Spirit  and  the  Scripture  combine  to  assure  us  that 
God  is  Love.  Is  that  merely  a  piece  of  theological 
information  about  God  of  which  the  universe  is 
independent,  or  does  He  not  in  the  revelation 
spread  His  wide  pinions  over  all  creatures  that  He 
has  made  and  gather  them  together  as  a  hen  doth 
gather  her  brood  under  her  wings  ?  Out  Of  such 
a  revelation  the  willing  soul  discerns  the  New 
Jerusalem  descend  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her 
husband  ;  the  eager  soul  receives,  the  wayward 
soul  returns,  the  sorrowful  soul  is  comforted.  No 
revelation  of  God  is  possible  that  is  simply  inform- 
ation without  a  bearing  on  my  history,  my  exist- 
ence, my  future.  And  so  with  our  text  we  may 
say  the  "I  Am"  of  God  involves  the  "I  shall  be"  of 
the  creature.  If  one  comes  to  me  and  says,  "  I 
was  your  father's  friend,"  it  may  be  either  (i.)  that 
my  father  is  dead,  or  (ii.)  that  there  has  been  a 
change  in  the  affection  of  the  person  speaking ; 


6  GOD  THE  GOD 

but  if  he  comes  to  me  and  says,  "  I  am  your 
father's  friend,"  he  implies  two  things :  the  existence 
of  my  father  and  the  permanence  of  his  own  love 
for  him ;  and  the  one  just  as  much  as  the  other. 
So  when  God  says,  not  "  I  was  the  God  of 
Abraham,"  but  "  I  am,"  etc.,  He  is  not  merely 
asserting  His  own  existence  and  providence,  but 
the  continued  life  of  the  faithful  of  ancient  days. 
And  so  the  "  I  Am  "  of  God  proclaims  the  "  I  am  " 
of  the  creature  ;  the  soul  looks  down  the  sloping 
years  and  says  of  its  prospect,  "  God  is,  and  I  am." 
And  Christ's  answer  to  the  Sadducee  comes  to 
this  :  "  You  are  inconsistent  in  denying  the  future 
life  ;  you  ought  first  to  have  denied  the  being  of 
God  ;  but  as  long  as  He  is,  beat  His  saints  small 
as  the  dust,  scatter  them  to  the  four  corners  of  the 
earth,  yet  He  will  send  forth  His  angels  and  gather 
His  elect  again  from  the  four  winds,  and  lo !  they 
are  sitting  down  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  in 
the  kingdom  of  God  :  for  He  is  not  the  God  of  dead 
men,  but  of  living  men  ;  and  all  live  unto  Him  ! " 
Those  who  believe  in  God  can  easily  take  heart 
to  look  through  the  mysteries  of  life  and  death 
and  to  discern  glory  through  the  gloom  ;  but  the 


OF  THE  LIVING  7 

Sadducee  did  not  stand  in  the  line  of  the  sun- 
beams that  come  from  the  other  world  ;  no  wonder 
it  was  dark  to  him. 

Not  but  what  our  life  is  full  of  mysteries  :  birth 
and  death  alike  perplex  us  ;  the  "  Whence "  and 
the  "  Whither." 

He  who  has  studied  well  his  coming  and  his 
going,  has  written  out  two  books  of  his  Bible  :  the 
Genesis  and  Exodus  of  his  book  of  life. 

Birth  and  death  are  alike  mysterious ;  they  are 
something  like  the  vails  of  the  ancient  tabernacle, 
each  curiously  wrought  of  purple  and  scarlet  and 
fine  twined  linen,  but  the  vail  of  the  most  holy  place 
had  in  addition  cunning  work  and  tracery  of  cheru- 
bim. So  with  our  birth  and  dying — we  may  learn 
much  from  either;  but  death  has  the  greater  wonders 
traced  upon  its  vail,  if  we  could  but  get  into  the 
right  light  to  read  them.  There  is  this  difference, 
too,  that,  while  the  first  vail  is  moved  aside  that  we 
may  enter,  and  closes  behind  us  so  that  we  may  not 
tell  from  whence  we  came,  the  second  vail  is  not 
drawn  back  but  rent  from  top  to  bottom,  so  that 
we  do  not  lose  our  sight  of  the  world  that  is  when 
we  are  made  a  part  of  the  world  that  is  to  come. 


8  GOD  THE  GOD 

It  is  through  this  rent  vail  that  we  are  looking 
to-day. 

It  has  pleased  God  that  the  first-fruits  of  our 
meeting  should  be  laid  upon  the  altar ;  He  has 
called  our  dear  Arthur  Neale  to  Himself.  Already 
it  has  been  said  over  him,  "Ashes  to  ashes  and 
dust  to  dust "  ;  it  remains  for  us  to  take  up  our 
testimony  and  say,  "  and  soul  to  soul." 

Dear  Arthur  Neale  !  it  has  been  said  that  "  one 
cross  can  sanctify  a  soul,"  and  he  had  many  crosses ; 
chiefest  of  all  the  fear  of  death.  He  was  some- 
thing like  Bunyan's  Mr.  Fearing,  only  his  fear  was 
physical,  and  not  produced  by  doubts  as  to  his 
final  acceptance.  But  it  was  grand  to  see  how,  at 
the  last,  this  fear  of  death,  which  is,  in  its  very 
nature,  a  solicitude  for  self,  was  transformed  to 
care  for  others  ;  just  before  he  passed  away,  he 
turned  to  the  dear  one  watching  beside  him  and 
asked  if  she  was  afraid  to  see  any  one  die. 

Now  let  me  read  you  a  little  about  Mr.  Fearing. 

"  When  he  was  come  to  the  entrance  of  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  thought  I  should 
have  lost  my  man ;  not  for  that  he  had  any 
inclination  to  go  back :  that  he  always  abhorred  ; 


OF  THE  LIVING  9 

but  he  was  ready  to  die  for  fear.  .  .  .  But  this 
I  took  notice  of,  that  this  valley  was  as  quiet  when 
he  went  through  it  as  ever  I  knew  it  before  or 
since.  I  suppose  these  enemies  had  a  special 
check  from  our  Lord,  and  a  commandment  not  to 
meddle  until  Mr.  Fearing  was  passed  over  it.  .  .  . 
When  he  was  come  to  the  river,  where  was  no 
bridge,  he  was  again  in  a  heavy  case.  And  here, 
also,  I  took  notice  of  what  was  very  remarkable : 
the  water  of  that  river  was  lower  at  this  time  than 
ever  I  saw  it  in  all  my  life.  So  he  went  over,  at 
last,  not  much  above  wet  shod.  ...  I  never  had 
any  doubt  about  him  ;  he  was  a  man  of  very 
choice  spirit,  only  he  was  always  kept  very  low, 
and  that  made  his  life  burdensome  to  himself  and 
troublesome  to  others." 

He  has  sent  us  his  last  message :  being  asked 
if  he  had  any  word  for  friends,  he  said,  "  Tell  them 
all,  it's  all  right." 

It  comforts  me  sometimes  to  believe  that,  as 
we  advance  in  the  Life,  the  way  becomes  easier. 
I  believe  this  to  be  the  case  not  only  with  one  who 
has  death  at  his  back,  but  with  every  one  who 
walks  faithfully  with  God.     Jesus  says,  "  My  yoke 


lo  GOD  THE  GOD 

is  easy  and  My  burden  is  light "  ;  and  I  think  to 
those  who  follow  Him  faithfully  He  says,  "  My  yoke 
is  easier  and  My  burden  lighter  every  day." 

We  learn  to  live  with  God  until  it  becomes 
impossible  to  live  without  Him  ;  we  learn  to  lean 
on  Him,  until  we  acquire  an  instinctive  abhorrence 
of  all  broken  reeds.  We  begin  with  cherubim  and 
a  flaming  sword  that  turns  every  way  to  keep  the 
way  of  the  tree  of  life ;  but  we  end  with  the  same 
flashing  armoury  turning  us  from  every  path 
except  that  which  leads  to  glory  and  honour  and 
immortality  and  the  city  of  God.  We  begin  with 
"  He  shall  give  His  angels  charge  against  thee," 
but  we  end  with  this,  "  He  giveth  His  angels 
charge  concerning  thee,  and  in  their  hands  they 
shall  bear  thee  up,  lest  at  any  time  thou  dash  thy 
foot  against  a  stone."  Such  guidance  and  keeping 
is  heaven  ;  such,  too,  is  heaven  on  earth. 

I  have  kept  a  few  of  his  letters  from  which  I 
should  like  to  read  you  a  few  sentences  : — 

2^rd  December  1878. 

.  .  .  Thoughts  seem  to  go  almost  instinctively  from 
the  cold  weather  to  the  apparent  state  of  spiritual  life  in 


OF  THE  LIVING  ii 

the  congregations  of  which  I  have  been  a  very  unwilling 
member  {i.e.  ^ro  tem.^  D.  V.) — the  latest  invention  is  a 
system  of  feeding  souls  on  historical  facts  dressed  up  in 
flowery  English — perhaps  this  sounds  harsh  and  resentful ; 
perhaps  others  have  not  found  it  such  bad  food  after  all. 

^th  January  1879. 

...  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  tell  you  anything  more 
than  is  contained  in  two  sentences  from  the  Chronicles  of 
the  Schonberg-Cotta  Family :  "  I  feel  an  atom — but  an 
atom  in  a  solid,  God  -  governed  world,  where  truth  is 
mightiest ;  insignificant  in  myself  as  the  little  mosses  which 
flutter  on  these  ancient  stones  ;  but  yet  a  little  moss  on  a 
great  rock  which  cannot  be  shaken — the  rock  of  God's 
providence  and  love."  "  God's  common  gifts  are  His  most 
precious  ;  and  His  most  precious  gifts — even  life  itself — 
have  no  root  in  themselves ;  not  that  they  are  without  root  : 
they  are  better  rooted  in  the  depths  of  His  unchangeable 
love.  Henceforth  let  me  be  content  with  the  only  security 
Dr.  Luther  says  God  will  ever  give  us — the  security  of  His 
presence  and  care."  "  I  will  never  leave  thee."  And  yet 
one  longs  to  be  less  than  moss,  to  be  a  part  of  the  rock 
itself;  that  it  may  not  be  I  that  live,  but  Christ  that  liveth 
in  me — that  death  might  be  swallowed  up  of  life. 

Tth  March  1879. 

...  It  seems  that  I'm  beginning  to  learn  that  it  is  little 
use  expecting  to  get  messages  for  others,  or  be  able  to  help 


12  GOD  THE  GOD 

them  or  speak  a  word  in  season  unless  "we  make  mention 
of  them  continually  in  our  prayers,"  and  give  up  trying  to 
monopolise  the  Holy  Ghost  for  particular  times ;  i.e.  the 
Holy  Ghost  objects  to  being  a  respecter  of  persons  at  any 
time.  It  remains  therefore  to  pray  for  you  strongly  that 
you  may  be  filled  with  a  knowledge  of  His  will  in  all 
wisdom  and  spiritual  understanding  quite  up  to  the  mark  of 
"  rejoicing  alway,"  for  this  is  the  will  of  God  concerning  us. 
.  .  .  The  verse  that  brings  me  soonest  to  the  self-despair 
point  is  this :  "  Herein  is  love  with  us  made  perfect,  that 
we  may  have  boldness  in  the  day  of  judgment,  because  as 
He  is  J  so  are  we  in  this  world  ^' ;  the  standpoint  of  "  workers 
together  with  God  "  is  a  strong  one — "  it  lifts,  it  bears  my 
drooping  soul."  To  do  the  will  of  God,  surely  this  is  to 
abide  for  ever.  .  .  . 

?>th  February  1880. 
He  begins  with  two  Scripture  quotations  :  one 
from  the  Septuagint — "  the  Lord  preserveth  the 
infants,"  in  the  English  "  the  Lord  preserveth  the 
simple "  ;  the  other — "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

It  has  been  an  experience  of  the  past  week,  which  I 
am  now  beginning  dimly  to  recognise,  that  the  child  and 
the  child- spirit  are  necessary  elements  of  the  presence  of 
the  kingdom — as  necessary  as  they  are  for  entrance  into 
the  kingdom. 


OF  THE  LIVING  13 

And  the  kingdom  consists  in  the  keeping ;  in  conscious, 
clearer,  simpler  on-leading  in  the  life  of  Christ.  I  am  kept 
because  I  am  a  child — when  I  cease  to  be  kept  it  is  because 
I  become  a  rebellious  child  ;  and  of  this  kingdom  and  peace 
there  has  been  no  end  to-day — there  is  therefore  no  hind- 
rance (save  a  divided  will)  to  its  continuance,  and  thus  one 
is  led  into  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God — that  our  brothers 
are  not  orphans^  and  that  prayer  and  work  must  in  this  faith 
overcome  the  world. 

The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  be  present  continually  to 
energise  in  us  this  faith,  and  to  work  in  us  all  the  good 
pleasure  of  His  will. 


And  so,  beloved  friends,  with  these  words  of 
his  own  we  conclude  our  testimony  to  him  ;  we 
keep  this  Memorial  of  the  Blessed  Dead,  not 
sorrowing,  as  those  do  who  have  no  hope ;  if  we 
grieve  at  all,  it  is  that  our  love  was  so  sparing  of 
the  spikenard  wherewith  we  should  have  anointed 
him  to  his  burial. 


iRequfescit  in  pace. 

*♦  ^Ijou  |)a0t  matie  |)im  most  blesseH  for  cber,  €^5ou  |^a0t  matie 
|)im  ejcceeUiixB  clati  ^s^x^  Z^2  countenance*" 


BELIEVING  AND   BECOMING 


If 

BELIEVING  AND  BECOMING 

"To  as  many  as  received  Him,  to  them  gave  He  power  to  become 
the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  His  name. " — 
John  i.  12. 

John  soon  gets  away  from  abstract  theology  and 

takes  the  soul  up  into  the  mount  of  contemplation, 

from  which  it  may  discern  the  length  and  breadth 

of  the  land  of  promise  and  privilege.      He  knew 

that  our  faith  was  not  only  "  Emmanuel,  God  with 

us "  ;  but  that  if  we  had  the  skill  and  could  read 

the  word  backwards,  we  might  say, — "  and  we  also 

with  God."      He   begins   his   Gospel,  "the  Word 

was  with  God  " ;  he  goes  on,  "  the  Word  was  with 

man " ;   and  then  he    completes   the   triangle   by 

saying,  "  and    man    also  with   God "  ;  for  "  to  as 

many  as  received  Him,  He  gave  power  to  become 

c 


i8  BELIEVING 

the  children  of  God."  And  again,  later  on,  in  the 
seventeenth  chapter,  we  have  the  thoughts,  **  I  in 
them,"  and  "  Thou  in  Me,"  and  "  they  also  in  Us," 
until  one  is  left  in  a  delightful  perplexity  as  to  the 
nearness  of  God  to  His  creatures,  and  obliged  to 
say  that — 

God  is  never  so  far  off 

As  even  to  be  near ; 
He  dwells  within,  the  spirit  is 

The  home  He  holds  most  dear. 

His  faith  was  not  merely  that  the  Word  became 
flesh  that  He  might  bring  God  to  us,  but  the  Word 
living  and  suffering  that  He  might  bring  us  to 
God ;  His  religion  not  merely  the  humiliation  of 
the  Creator,  but,  in  a  very  real  sense,  the  exalta- 
tion of  the  creature  and  practical  union  with  the 
Lord  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh  ;  not  only  that  He 
for  our  sakes  became  poor,  but  also,  that  we 
through  His  poverty  might  be  made  rich.  It  is 
into  this  riches  of  our  inheritance  that  we  want  to 
look  this  evening. 

Do  we  know  what  it  is  to  have  not  only  a 
heaven  in  prospect  but  also  one  in  possession,  and 
to  see  in  Christ  a  High  Priest  of  good  things  present 


AND  BECOMING  19 

as  well  as  of  good  things  to  come  ?  It  seems  to 
me  that  in  this  passage  the  Religion  of  Jesus  is 
presented  to  us  in  two  lights :  (i.)  as  believing 
and  receiving  ;  (ii.)  as  believing  and  becoming. 
Some  people  stop  short  with  believing  and  do  not 
receive.  But  our  faith  is  certainly  an  appropriative 
faculty  ;  a  sort  of  hand  of  the  soul  that  can  be 
stretched  out  to  take  hold  of  God's  offered  gifts, 
or  to  link  itself  on  to  God's  hand  outstretched  to 
guide  us.  Of  what  use  would  a  hand  be  that 
never  grasped  anything?  Perhaps  some  promise 
stands  out  before  us,  telling  us  His  Mind,  or  it 
may  have  been  impressed  upon  us  by  His  Spirit. 
Even  from  a  weak  faith  we  can  obtain  promises  ; 
because  faith  apprehends  the  nature  of  God  ;  and 
as  soon  as  we  begin  to  apprehend  that,  we  see 
that  certain  things  ought  to  happen,  and  ere  long 
these  things  shape  themselves  into  definite  promises 
which  faith  applies.  So  the  life  is  one  of  believing 
and  receiving ;  and  as  our  faith  pleads  the  pro- 
mises, and  the  appropriative  power  of  the  soul  is 
exercised,  we  find  the  kingdom  of  God  come  to  us 
not  in  word  but  in  power.  But  our  religion  is  also 
believing  and  becoming ;  "  that  as  many  as  received 


20  BELIEVING 

Him  might  become  the  children  of  God,  even  those 
who  believe  in  His  name."  Much  of  our  faith, 
so-called,  is  only  a  beating  of  the  air,  and  not 
really  an  advancement  of  the  soul ;  we  profess  a 
great  deal  which  has  no  practical  bearing  on  our 
own  lives.  Yet  all  true  believing  is  becoming,  and 
a  man  cannot  be  a  follower  of  the  Lamb,  in  the 
real  sense  of  the  term,  without  his  becoming 
moment  by  moment  a  different  man  ;  he  alters 
his  stature,  not  indeed  by  taking  thought  there- 
unto, but  even  as  the  lilies  grow ;  and  adding 
together  the  receiving  and  the  becoming,  we  find 
that  v/e  are  the  children  of  God. 

Hence  it  appears  that  our  faith  is  not  a  single 
definite  act,  done,  and  done  with  ;  but  one  done 
and  gone  on  with.  And  our  faith  is  to  be  not 
only  definite,  but  progressive  and  increasing,  lead- 
ing us  from  grace  to  grace,  from  strength  to 
strength,  and  from  glory  to  glory. 

If  we  take  a  stranger  to  view  the  Fitzwilliam 
Museum  at  Cambridge,  it  is  possible  that  he  will 
say  '  that  the  outside  is  the  finest  part  of  it,  and 
that  it  looks  best  from  a  distance  ;  or  he  may  say 
that  the  entrance-hall,  with  its  display  of  coloured 


AND  BECOMING  21 

marbles  and  polished  granite,  is  the  best  part  of 
the  museum.  Certainly  there  are  many  that  look 
at  Christianity  in  this  manner  ;  thinking  it  per- 
haps a  magnificent  ideal  of  life,  especially  as  seen 
in  history  ;  or  perhaps  as  seen  at  some  distance,  as 
we  view  Sunday  from  the  other  days  of  the  week. 
And  others  there  are  who  think  that  the  entrance 
of  the  Christian  life  is  the  best  part  of  it,  who  say 
honestly  from  experience  that  the  beginning  of  the 
life  was  the  best  for  them.  The  reason  being  that 
they  stopped  there  ;  otherwise  people  never  could 
think  that  the  happiest  part  of  the  life  was  that 
immediately  consequent  on  conversion ;  for  in 
reality  the  path  of  the  just  is  a  shining  light,  that 
shines  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day.  It  is 
not  like  one  of  those  ancient  Egyptian  temples  of 
which  one  reads,  in  which  we  pass  from  daylight 
to  shade  as  we  enter,  and  into  deeper  gloom  as 
we  approach  the  secret  shrine. 

The  life  of  faith — progressive,  increasing  faith 
— is  a  motion  in  a  straight  line,  and  not  in  a 
closed  curve ;  it  is  not  like  an  Irish  penance 
around  a  sacred  well  where  one  makes  progress 
with  the  final  result  of  being  where  you  started, 


22  BELIEVING 

and,  perhaps,  ready  for  another  revolution,  as, 
indeed,  it  must  appear  to  some  Christians  whose 
circle  is  a  week  and  whose  starting-point  a  Sunday. 
Neither  is  it  like  the  pilgrimage  up  Pilate's  stair- 
case at  Rome,  in  which  the  pain  of  going  up  on 
one's  knees  is  only  varied  by  the  discomfort  of 
coming  down  again  and  finding  ourselves  just 
about  where  we  were  before,  as  it  must  appear  to 
some  good  people  who  live  the  up-and-down  life. 
It  is  an  upward  and  onward  life  ;  on  our  knees,  if 
you  will,  but  upward  and  upward  and,  like  the 
stairs  in  Ezekiel's  vision,  still  upward.  And  the 
Scriptures  encourage  us  forward,  bidding  us  leave 
the  word  of  the  beginning  of  Christ  and  go  (not 
crawl)  on  unto  perfection. 

"  He  gave  the  power  to  become  the  children  of 
God  "  ;  the  margin  suggests  "  right  "  or  "  privilege." 
Theologically  this  seems  a  high  calling ;  but  we 
are  not  to  deny  things  because  they  are  high. 
"  The  devil's  darling  sin  is  the  pride  that  apes 
humility,"  and  this  affectation  of  humility  is  one  of 
the  ways  in  which  souls  are  constantly  kept  out 
of  blessing ;  it  has  been  so  throughout  the  history 
of  the  Church.      In  the  matter  of  the  forgiveness 


AND  BECOMING  23 

of  sins,  it  is  not  so  long  since  people  said  that  if  a 
man  knew  his  sins  were  forgiven,  it  would  make 
him  conceited  ;  and  some  people  still  hold  it  to 
be  a  presumption  ;  at  other  times  that  eternal  life, 
which  consists  in  the  knowledge  of  God  and  of 
Jesus  Christ  whom  He  has  sent,  is  denied  ;  be- 
cause it  is  presumptuous  for  a  man  to  say  that  he 
knows  God  in  the  same  simple  matter-of-fact  way 
that  he  is  acquainted  with  a  friend.  And  nowa- 
days this  spiritual  affectation  takes  the  form  of 
the  denial  of  holiness,  because,  if  you  were  kept 
from  sin,  you  would  be  sure  to  be  proud  of  it ;  as 
if  God  were  likely  to  humble  a  man  and  make  his 
heart  a  temple  of  His  own,  and  then  suffer  him 
to  be  lifted  up  over  the  fact.  They  do  not  seem 
to  see  the  contradiction.  The  Lord  is  pretty  sure 
to  humble  us  a  good  deal  before  He  gives  us  any- 
thing to  be  proud  of.  People  say  it  is  presump- 
tuous to  be  "  blameless  and  harmless,  the  sons  of 
God  without  rebuke,"  and  more  humble — to  be 
something  else.  Humility  is  one  of  those  things 
that  lie  right  in  the  line  of  our  obedience ;  or,  as 
a  dear  friend  once  said  to  me, — "  the  righteousness 
I  am  striving  after,  includes  humility." 


24  BELIEVING 

It  is  a  false  humility  that  refuses  those  good 
things  which  God  has  laid  up  for  those  who  love 
Him.  The  true  humility  says,  when  the  Lord  has 
made  a  feast  and  bidden  His  guests,  "  I  shall  go 
and  take  the  lowest  place "  ;  but  the  affected 
humility  says,  "  Oh  !  it's  too  good  for  me  ;  I  shall 
sit  down  outside  "  ;  and  so,  practically,  it  becomes 
numbered  amongst  those  of  whom  it  is  said,  "  They 
shall  not  taste  of  My  supper."  We  need  to  be 
like  Paul,  ready  to  take  our  place  amongst  the 
saints,  though  less  than  the  least  of  them  ;  or  it 
may  be  among  the  apostles,  though  not  worthy  to 
be  called  an  apostle. 

God  gives  us  power  for  what  He  wants  us  to 
be ;  i.e.  power  for  the  next  step ;  and  all  our 
future  life  is  conditioned  upon  that.  We  say, 
"  Increase  our  faith,"  and  He  says,  "  Exercise  the 
faith  you  have."  We  must  exercise  the  lower 
power  before  we  attain  to  the  higher.  Suppose 
there  is  a  powerful  steam-engine  which  is  able  to 
do  for  you  a  year's  work  in  a  day  :  it  is  a  reservoir 
of  power,  but  the  power  is  conditioned  upon  the 
exercise  of  a  lower  power ;  you  must  bring  coals 
and  fetch  water  and  make  up  fire,  and  by  and  by 


AND  BECOMING  25 

the  power  becomes  accessible  to  you.  He  that  is 
faithful  in  least  is  faithful  also  in  much  ;  we  must 
be  faithful  to  the  light  already  given  us,  faithful  to 
our  powers  of  love,  thought,  and  obedience,  if  we 
are  to  be  brought  to  the  reception  of  the  power  in 
which  saints  have  walked. 

Using  the  marginal  suggestion,  we  have  the 
right  given  us  to  be  children  of  God.  We  hear 
much  nowadays  of  people  standing  on  their  rights, 
— on  rights  real  and  rights  imagined  ;  we  have  our 
rights  against  the  enemy  of  souls  ;  oh  !  that  we 
would  insist  on  them,  and  that  we  would  realise 
how  the  powers  of  darkness  fly  when  we  look  to 
God  bravely  and  confidently  for  the  promised 
help. 

What  is  involved  in  thus  becoming  a  child  of 
God  ?  Well,  for  one  thing,  God  is  pledged  to  love 
us  just  as  much  as  He  loves  Christ.  We  sometimes 
get  the  idea  into  our  minds  that  God  loves  us  in  a 
sort  of  afterthought  manner,  as  a  superfluous  or 
unnecessary  part  of  creation.  I  have  found  out 
that  He  loves  us  just  as  much  as  He  loves  Christ ; 
Jesus  Himself  said — "  Father,  Thou  hast  loved 
them  as  Thou  hast  loved  Me." 


26  BELIEVING 

Was  Christ's  consciousness  of  the  love  of  God 
a  mere  wavering  thing,  perhaps  known  only  at 
critical  times  ;  or  was  it  not  rather  His  vital  breath 
and  native  air  ?  "I  will  that  they  also  whom  Thou 
hast  given  Me  may  be  with  Me  where  I  am "  ; 
and  "the  only-begotten  Son  is  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Father." 

Another  side  of  this  privilege  is  that  we  may 
be  kept  from  sin.  Three  passages  I  call  to  mind 
in  which  the  children  of  the  Highest  are  spoken 
of:  one  is  in  Matt.  v.  45  :  "That  ye  may  be  the 
children  of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  It 
goes  on — "  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your 
Father  in  heaven  is  perfect."  Another  is  in  2  Cor. 
vi.  1 8  ;  "I  will  be  a  Father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall 
be  My  sons  and  My  daughters,  saith  the  Lord  God 
Almighty."  It  goes  on — "  Having  these  promises, 
dearly  beloved,  let  us  cleanse  ourselves  from  all 
filthiness  of  the  flesh  and  spirit,  perfecting  holiness 
in  the  fear  of  the  Lord."  The  third  is  in  i  John 
iii.  I  :  "  Behold  what  manner  of  love  the  Father 
hath  bestowed  upon  us,  that  we  should  be  called 
the  sons  of  God  "  ;  and  the  best  reading  continues 
— "  and  we  are  so  "  ;  it  continues  with  "  purifieth 


AND  BECOMING  27 

himself  as  He  is  pure,"  and  "  he  that  abideth  in 
Him  sinneth  not." 

Finally,  does  it  seem  a  contradiction  in  terms 
to  talk  of  becoming  a  child  ?  it  is  indeed  hard  to 
turn  the  streams  of  life  backward  and  make  them 
return  to  their  source  :  a  long  way  back,  too,  for 
some  of  us  ;  again  we  take  comfort  from  the 
Scripture,  and  remember  that  "  when  he  was  yet 
a  great  way  off,  his  father  ran  and  fell  on  his  neck 
and  kissed  him." 


GLEAMING  AS  CRYSTAL 


Ill 

GLEAMING  AS  CRYSTAL 

"And  he  shewed  me  a  pure  river  of  water  of  life,  gleaming  as 
crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the 
Lamb." — Rev.  xxii.  i. 

If  we  are  to  understand  the  New  Jerusalem  pro- 
perly, we  almost  need  to  have  been  citizens  of  the 
Old.  On  this  subject,  even  more  than  in  the  general 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  we  are  entitled  to 
answer  the  question — "  What  advantage  then  hath 
the  Jew  ? "  with  an  unhesitating  expression  of 
"  much  every  way  "  ;  for  unto  them  pertained  the 
city  of  God.  For  example,  when  we  read,  in 
Galatians,  the  passage  in  which  St  Paul  speaks  of 
the  old  Covenant,  under  the  terms  "  Agar "  and 
"  Mount  Sinai  in  Arabia,"  who  but  those  who  had 
felt  the  galling  of  a  foreign  yoke,  and  the  insolence 


32  GLEAMING 

and  exaction  of  Roman  tyranny,  could  have 
realised  the  pathos  of  the  words  "and  corre- 
spondeth  to  Jerusalem,  which  now  is,  and  is  in 
bondage  with  her  children  "  ;  and  what  citizen  of 
the  New  and  Spiritual  City,  who  had  not  also 
dwelt  within  the  ancient  and  outward  walls,  could 
have  felt  the  full  contrast  expressed  in  the  triumph- 
ant thanksgiving  that  "  Jerusalem,  which  is  above, 
is  free  "  ?  In  the  same  way,  if  one  would  under- 
stand the  magnificent  passage  in  which  the  writer 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  describes  the  New 
Jerusalem,  one  would  need  to  have  worshipped 
within  the  courts  of  the  Old.  How  else  can  one 
see  the  lines  traced  in  the  picture,  and  mark  the 
analogy  between  the  multitude  of  white-robed 
priests  and  the  innumerable  company  of  angels ; 
or  see  the  general  assembly  of  folk  gathered  for 
festival  from  all  parts  of  the  land  ?  here,  too,  are 
the  consecrated  eldest-born,  and  here  the  rolls  in 
which  their  names  are  entered  ;  and,  passing  with- 
in the  veil,  even  in  ancient  days,  one  might  say, 
in  some  sense,  "  We  are  come  to  God  the  Judge  of 
all,  and  to  Jesus  the  Mediator  of  the  covenant,  and 
to  the  Blood  of  sprinkling."      So  you  will  under- 


AS  CRYSTAL  33 

stand  that  the  best  place  to  view  the  New- 
Jerusalem  from  is  the  ruins  of  the  Old.  It  is  in 
this  spirit  that  we  want  to  study  the  gleaming 
waters  "  that  make  glad  the  city  of  God." 

Observe,  then,  that  the  ancient  Jerusalem  was 
not  situated,  as  most  cities,  on  the  banks  of  some 
river,  or  the  shore  of  some  sea.  It  stood  in  a 
peculiar  position,  at  some  distance  from  either :  it 
was  badly  watered  ;  we  read  of  a  pool  or  two,  of 
a  little  brook,  of  an  aqueduct  and  some  other 
artificial  water-structures.  Bearing  this  fact  in 
mind,  you  will  understand  how  forcible  an  appeal 
to  the  imagination  would  be  contained  in  the  verse 
of  the  46th  Psalm,  which  tells  of  a  river  that  should 
"  make  glad  the  city  of  God." 

In  evidence  of  the  foregoing  you  may  notice 
the  following  remark  of  Philo  on  the  verse  quoted 
(de  somniis^  ii.  38):  "  The  holy  city,  which  exists 
at  present,  in  which  also  the  holy  temple  is  estab- 
lished, is  at  a  great  distance  from  any  sea  or  river, 
so  that  it  is  clear  that  the  writer  here  means 
figuratively  to  speak  of  some  other  city  than  the 
visible  city  of  God."     It  is  evident,  therefore,  that 

the  mention  of  a  pure,  fresh  stream  flowing  through 

D 


34  GLEAMING 

the  midst  of  Jerusalem  was  a  figure  of  a  very 
striking  nature  ;  and  we  say,  that  the  basis  of  this 
magnificent  description  in  the  Apocalypse  lies  in 
the  insufficiency  of  the  water-supply  of  the  ancient 
city.  God  takes  our  outward  necessities  and  uses 
them  as  figures  by  which  to  make  us  alive  to  the 
facts  of  our  inward  neediness,  and  of  the  abundant 
power  that  there  is  in  Him  to  satisfy  us.  The 
Bible  is  full  of  promises  as  outwardly  impossible 
as  that  a  river  should  flow  through  the  midst  of 
Jerusalem.  The  streams  of  life,  the  floods  of  holy 
influence,  the  manifestations  of  Divine  grace,  shall 
be  for  you  like  that  imagined  river ;  and  however 
difficult  it  may  be  to  believe  such  a  heaven  on 
earth  as  that  indicated  to  be  possible — 

Faith,  mighty  faith,  the  promise  sees, 

And  looks  to  that  alone ; 
Laughs  at  impossibilities, 

And  cries — "  It  shall  be  done." 

The  life  of  the  future,  and  by  that  we  mean  heaven 
on  earth  as  well  as  heaven,  shall  be  as  different 
from  that  which  you  are  now  realising  as  the 
water-supply  of  Jerusalem   would   be   if  a   river 


AS  CRYSTAL  35 

flowed  in  the  midst,  from  what  it  is  now  with 
merely  Kidron  and  Bethesda  and  Siloam  and 
Solomon's  Pools.  So  we  say  (i.)  that  the  Life  is 
not  a  half-stagnant  pool,  like  Siloam  ;  nor  (ii.)  an 
intermittent  fountain,  like  Bethesda  ;  nor  (iii.)  an 
artificial  construction,  like  Solomon's  aqueducts  ; 
nor  (iv.)  a  poor  weak  puny  stream,  defiled  by 
the  city  through  which  it  passes,  like  the  brook 
Kidron. 

(i)  It  is  not  a  standstill  life:  no  one  can 
stand  still  who  lives  with  God.  If  God  is  the 
fountain  of  your  life,  there  will  be  no  green  mantle 
on  the  surface  telling  how  long  you  have  been  in 
one  place.  Neither  in  earth  nor  in  heaven  do  we 
stand  still  or  stay  where  we  are.  Take  up  the 
anchor  and  the  ship  follows  the  tide,  and  in  God 
the  tide  always  sets  one  way.  You  cannot  stand 
still  without  anchoring  to  the  creature.  There 
must  be  fresh  discoveries  of  truth  and  duty  every 
day ;  and  fresh  inquisition  made  into  the  heights 
and  depths  of  Redeeming  Love.  Abandonment 
to  God  must  mean  advancement  in  God. 

They  who  love  God  cannot  love  Him  by  measure, 
For  their  love  is  a  hunger  to  love  Him  still  better. 


36  GLEAMING 

(2)  Neither  in  earth  nor  in  heaven  is  the  Life 
to  be  an  intermittent  one.  Some  have  said  that 
the  pool  of  Bethesda  was  connected  with  one 
of  those  intermittent  springs  that  one  sometimes 
comes  across,  and  have  explained  by  that  means 
the  periodical  disturbances  in  the  waters.  There 
is  one  of  these  springs  pointed  out  on  the  road 
from  Buxton  to  Castleton  in  Derbyshire,  but  it 
showed  no  signs  of  anything  extraordinary  when 
I  was  there.  However,  whether  Bethesda  is  of 
this  nature  or  not,  it  is  certain  that  the  spiritual 
life  of  many  believers  is  too  much  of  the  character 
of  an  intermittent  spring.  I  want  to  tell  you  that 
there  should  be  no  such  word  as  "  revival "  in  the 
dictionary  of  the  Christian  Church  :  we  want  "  life," 
not  "  revival."  You  hear  people  saying  of  certain 
religious  movings — "  They  are  having  quite  a 
revival  "  ;  alas  !  and  were  they  dead  before  ?  In- 
deed, I  am  sure  this  intermittent  fountain  expresses 
only  too  accurately  the  lives  of  many  of  us.  The 
best  that  God  can  do  ,with  us  is  to  make  us  an 
occasional  blessing — a  sorrowful  thing  to  confess 
when  there  are  suffering  ones  around  waiting  and 
watching  the  surface  of  our  hearts  to  see  whether 


AS  CRYSTAL  37 

there  is  any  moving  of  the  water.  I  think,  there- 
fore, to  tell  you  the  secret  of  the  intermittent 
spring.  Every  such  spring  is  fed  from  an  inner 
chamber  in  the  rock  in  which  the  rains  accumulate ; 
but  it  is  only  as  long  as  the  water  is  above  a 
certain  level  that  the  outward  flow  is  maintained. 
If  the  inner  chamber  be  kept  full,  the  outward 
supply  will  be  constant.  And  we  know,  apart 
from  our  figure,  that  when  the  inner  life  is  renewed 
day  by  day,  the  outward  is  no  longer  an  inter- 
mittent spring,  but  an  overflowing  cup. 

Neither  in  earth  nor  in  heaven  has  a  Christian 
a  right  to  go  below  "  par  "  in  his  spiritual  life.  I 
have  been  trying  to  imagine  what  it  would  be  in 
heaven  if  angels  were  to  neglect  the  influx  of 
vital  force  that  comes  from  the  throne  of  God 
and  of  the  Lamb  ;  if  at  any  time  they  were  to 
feel  not  up  to  singing -mark  or  service -mark, 
what  a  strange  heaven  it  would  presently  be ; 
and  what  strange  music  with  notes  wanting, — 
sometimes  in  the  air  and  sometimes  in  the  bass. 
We  know,  however,  that  the  real  character  of 
their  life  and  service  is  not  intermittent,  but  is 
expressed  in  the  words,  "  They  rest  not  day  nor 


38  GLEAMING 

night,  saying,  *  Holy,  holy,  holy,  is  the  Lord  of 
Hosts.' " 

(3)  It  is  not  a  life  for  which  the  world  is  too 
strong,  and  which  cannot  therefore  be  kept  pure. 
It  is  not  figured  by  a  little  brook,  as  Kidron, 
defiled  with  all  the  impurities  of  a  city,  and  that 
an  oriental  city.  And  yet  how  many  lives  there 
are  of  which  we  have  to  say,  "The  world  is  too 
strong  for  them "  ;  well  -  intentioned  people,  but 
feeble  in  grace,  and  who  have  received  but  little 
of  the  Life  of  God.  The  cup  was  indeed  put 
into  their  hands,  but  they  were  afraid  to  drink 
deeply,  though  the  voice  by  their  side  was  saying, 
"  Drink  abundantly,  O  beloved." 

They  drink  down  to  the  level  of  forgiveness, 
and,  perhaps,  grace ;  but  not  down  to  glory  and 
the  receiving  of  the  Spirit ;  they  do  not  realise 
that  "  he  that  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall 
give  him  shall  never  thirst "  ;  they  do  not  over- 
come the  world  ;  one  has  almost  to  make  a  fresh 
text  for  them, — "This  is  the  defeat  wherewith 
they  are  worsted,  even  their  little  faith." 

(4)  It  is  not  a  humanly  -  devised  life,  as 
Solomon's   aqueducts.     Our   faith   stands   not   in 


AS  CRYSTAL  39 

human  structures  ;  not  in  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession ;  not  in  the  XXXIX.  Articles.  It  stands 
not  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of 
God.  The  Divine  Life  is  not  sect,  and  it  is  not 
system.  What  is  your  sect?  A  pipe  whose 
power  of  supply  is  limited  by  its  diameter  ;  what- 
ever we  can  learn  from  the  maxims  and  traditions 
of  men,  is  but  a  little  compared  with  what  we 
may  learn  from  God  directly.  The  channel  of  a 
sect!  it  is  a  pipe  that  bursts  when  the  tide  of 
life  rises  beyond  a  certain  point.  The  channel 
of  a  system  !  it  is  an  aqueduct  through  which,  if 
one  stone  be  taken  out,  the  water  ceases  to  reach 
you. 

Our  little  systems  have  their  day ; 

They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be ; 

They  are  but  broken  lights  of  Thee  ; 
And  Thou,  O  Lord,  art  more  than  they. 

If  one  travels  on  the  continent,  one  can  see  (I 
think  it  is  at  Avignon)  the  ruins  of  the  ancient 
Roman  aqueduct ;  but  the  Rhine  and  the  rest  of 
the  rivers  of  God  flow  on  still,  full  of  water. 

Let  names  and  sects  and  parties  fall. 
That  Jesus  may  be  all  in  all. 


40  GLEAMING 

As  we  learn  to  live  the  life  of  dependence  upon 
the  Lord,  we  must  not  be  surprised  if  a  great 
deal  of  our  early  theology  drops  off:  it  does  not 
always  sit  down  with  us  in  heavenly  places  in 
Christ  Jesus.  Instead  of  Solomon's  pools  and 
aqueducts  there  is  given  to  us  a  pure  river  of 
water  of  life,  gleaming  as  crystal,  proceeding  out 
of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  ;  and  I 
think  we  may  say  of  those  who  receive  the  life  of 
God  in  this  immediate  and  wonderful  manner, 
that  "  not  even  Solomon,  in  all  his  glory,  was  so 
well  supplied  as  one  of  these." 

Finally,  we  may  say,  that  the  Life  is  one  of 
absolute  dependence,  and  is  conditioned  on  the 
sovereignty  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb.  Grace  and 
the  Holy  Ghost  are  the  portions  of  the  dependent 
soul :  they  only  flow  from  the  throne  of  God  and 
of  the  Lamb.  I  am  amazed  to  find  how  much 
of  true  religion  may  be  resolved  into  that  one 
word  "dependence."  I  can  remember  the  time 
when  I  could  not  enter  into  the  Psalm,  "  Lord, 
my  heart  is  not  haughty,  nor  mine  eyes  lofty, 
neither  do  I  exercise  myself  in  great  matters,  nor 
in  things  too  high  for  me " ;  nor  sing  the  verse, 


AS  CRYSTAL  41 

"  I  would  be  treated  as  a  child,  and  guided  where 
I  go."  Now  it  is,  I  hope,  different.  Moreover, 
we  are  sure  that  this  spirit  of  dependence  is  one 
of  the  main  features  of  the  angelic  life  ;  we  can- 
not imagine  it  otherwise  ;  for  the  source  of  the 
river  is  the  throne. 

We  sang  in  our  hymn  the  lines — 

I  know  Thou  hast  my  heart, 
And  I  have  heaven  ; 

but  we  can  only  sing  the  second  line  where  we 
have  said  or  sung  the  first 


HEART  ENLARGEMENT 


IV 
HEART  ENLARGEMENT 

**  I  will  run  the  way  of  Thy  commandments,  when  Thou  shalt 
enlarge  my  heart." — Ps.  cxix.  32. 

If  we  were  to  study  the  names  of  the  different 
sects  and  parties  that  make  up  the  "  Ishmael "  of 
God,  we  should  find  them  to  be  singularly  un- 
suggestive  of  such  a  thing  as  the  existence  of  a 
spiritual  life ;  nor  could  we  easily  infer  from  the 
nomenclature  of  so-called  Christendom  that  "  there 
is  a  spirit  in  man,  and  that  the  inspiration  of  the 
Almighty  giveth  him  understanding."  Now,  this 
is  a  very  curious  fact ;  for  one  would  have  ex- 
pected that  about  the  first  thing  suggested  by  the 
appellations  of  Christian  bodies  would  have  been 
some  phase  or  other  of  the  inward  life. 

But  we  are  not  going  to  spend  our  time  to- 


46  HEART 

night  in  discussing  sects,  or  deploring  their  divi- 
sions, although  we  cannot  altogether  refrain  regret 
when  we  contemplate  the  seamless  robe  of  Christ 
rent  into  more  than  twain,  and  dabbled  in  blood 
worse  than  Joseph's  coat  was  when  his  father  said, 
"  Some  evil  beast  hath  devoured  him  "  ;  and  al- 
though it  does  seem  to  us  sometimes,  as  we  con- 
template the  havoc  of  schisms  and  strife  of  sects, 
as  if  some  convulsion  from  beneath  had  shaken 
down  the  towers  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  and  streams 
from  the  nether  fires  had  coursed  down  the  channels 
of  the  river  of  life.  What  we  want  to  do  is  to 
think  a  little  about  the  true  Broad  Church  ;  not 
that  branch  of  Christianity  which  commonly  goes 
under  the  name,  and  which  makes  one  of  the 
instances  referred  to  of  the  unsuitableness  of 
names  applied  to  religious  schools  and  parties, 
but  the  spiritual  Broad  Church,  which  is  the  church 
of  enlarged  hearts.  The  school  we  want  to  belong 
to  is  the  school  of  spiritual  free-thinkers,  who  are 
-at  liberty  to  learn  all  that  God  has  to  teach  them. 
The  true  Broad  Church  is  that  in  which  an 
enlarged  obedience  to  God's  commandments  is 
brought  about  by  an  enlarged  experience  of  His 


ENLARGEMENT  47 

love ;  and  His  commandments  and  His  love  are 
both  of  them  exceeding  broad. 

All  true  spiritual  life  must  widen  the  soul ;  the 
more  we  live  with  Jesus,  the  more  impossible  will 
it  be  for  any  of  us  to  be  narrow.  Our  littleness 
takes  refuge  with  God,  and  His  greatness  makes 
its  abode  with  us  ;  we  bring  Him  our  unworthi- 
ness  and  He  imparts  to  us  His  righteousness ;  we 
offer  to  Him  our  hearts  barren  of  sympathy  and 
deficient  in  affection,  and  presently  we  find  the  love 
of  God  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  that  is  given  to  us. 

Thus,  when  acquainted  with  God  we  cannot  be 
really  narrow  ;  they  might  as  well  call  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  narrow.  We  want  to  be  as  broad  in 
our  sympathies  and  in  our  views  as  He  was ;  and 
neither  broader  nor  narrower. 

True  spiritual  life  will  widen  the  soul  in  its 
possessions^  its  perceptions^  its  willy  and  its  love ;  it 
will  extend  our  powers  of  havings  of  knowing,  of 
willing,  and  of  loving  \  and,  in  one  or  other  of 
these  four,  most  of  our  life  is  included. 

(i)  How  very  little  we  possess,  both  in  out- 
ward and  inward  things.     This  is  one  of  the  points 


48  HEART 

in  which  we  are  disposed  to  agree  with  the  saying 
that  the  circumference  of  our  circle  is  very  near  to 
the  centre.  We  can  grasp  very  little.  Our  hands 
are  small  and  the  world  is  large. 

"Tell  me  how  I  can  make  my  broad  acres 
more  broad,"  is  the  request  of  the  rich  man. 
"  Tell  me  how  I  can  make  my  narrow  holding 
less  narrow,"  is  the  cry  of  the  poor.  But  a  life 
in  God  makes  us  rich,  for  "  all  things  are  yours  ; 
whether  Paul,  or  ApoUos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world, 
or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present  or  things  to 
come  ; — all  are  yours  ;  and  ye  are  Christ's  ;  and 
Christ  is  God's."  "  Blessed  are  the  meek  ;  for  they 
shall  inherit  the  earth."  ''  There  is  no  man  that 
hath  left  house,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father, 
or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for  My 
sake  and  the  Gospel's,  but  he  shall  receive  an 
hundredfold  now  in  this  time,  houses,  and  breth- 
ren, and  sisters,  and  mothers,  and  children,  and 
lands,  with  persecutions ;  and  in  the  world  to  come 
eternal  life." 

And  Madame  Guyon  says,  "  Have  I  not  in- 
finitely more  than  a  hundredfold,  in  so  entire  a 
possession  as  Thou  my  Lord  hast  taken  of  me,  in 


ENLARGEMENT 


49 


that  unshaken  firmness  which  Thou  givest  me  in 
my  sufferings,  in  a  perfect  tranquillity  in  the  midst 
of  a  furious  tempest  that  assails  me  on  every  side, 
in  an  unspeakable  joy,  enlargedness,  and  liberty 
which  I  enjoy  in  a  most  strait  and  rigorous  cap- 
tivity ?  " 

(2)  How  trifling  is  our  knowledge  !  Yet  fewer 
people  will  assent  to  the  lack  of  knowledge,  for 
many  think  they  know  a  good  deal.  As  in  the 
times  of  Socrates,  it  is  only  the  wise  man  who 
knows  he  knows  nothing.  And  yet  how  little  we 
know  !  We  know  but  little  of  things  in  this  world, 
with  all  our  sciences  and  study,  and  we  know  much 
less  about  God,  and  glory,  and  immortality,  and 
the  spirits  which  live  outside  the  tent  of  this 
mortal  flesh,  or  of  any  of  those  things  which  "  eye 
hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard."  And  with  all  our 
books  of  theology  and  treatises  on  spiritual  life, 
we  are  almost  obliged  to  say  that  "  all  is  less  than 
nothing  and  vanity."  But  we  believe  that  for 
those  whom  God  enlarges,  there  is  an  unspeakable 
increase  in  the  perceptive  powers  of  the  soul :  they 
are  taught  things  that  no  one  else  knows  anything 

about,  and   that   are   hidden   from  the  wise   and 

E 


50  HEART 

prudent.  There  is  knowledge  for  the  simple  and 
lowly  ones  ;  for  those  who,  in  the  spiritual  strength 
they  have  derived  from  God,  run  in  the  way  of  His 
commandments.  Looking  into  the  Father's  face, 
and  into  the  Saviour's  heart,  the  soul  can  say,  "This 
is  life  eternal,  to  know  Thee  the  only  true  God,  and 
Jesus  Christ  whom  Thou  hast  sent."  And  with 
the  knowledge  there  comes  the  aspiration  that  we, 
"being  rooted  and  grounded  in  love,  may  be  able 
to  comprehend  with  all  saints,"  and  to  beseech  for 
all  souls,  "  the  breadth,  and  length,  and  depth,  and 
height,  and  to  know  the  love  of  Christ,  which 
passeth  knowledge."  And  again  it  is  said,  "  Ye 
have  an  anointing  from  the  Holy  One,  and  ye 
know  all  things."  Is  this  a  little  knowledge  ?  All 
things  are  possible  to  you  in  possession  and  in 
perception. 

(3)  How  little  is  our  will-power.  We  often 
want  to  do  right,  and  the  force  of  habits  or  of 
grooves  is  too  strong  for  us.  We  have  not  enough 
momentum  to  carry  us  out  or  enough  moral  force 
to  deny  the  past  and  to  assert  the  future.  Con- 
stantly rises  up  in  judgment  the  days  that  have 
been  ;  and  when  looking  at  the  blessed  vision  of 


ENLARGEMENT  51 

God  of  the  days  that  shall  be,  the  past  rises  up 
and  says,  "It  is  not  for  you  "  ;  and  we  have  not 
power  to  deny  this,  and  to  believe  in  God  that  He 
will  work  all  the  good  pleasure  of  His  will  in  us. 
It  seems  almost  impossible  for  us  ever  to  become 
saints.  When  we  get  to  understand  a  little  about 
righteousness  and  holiness,  we  do  feel  utterly  in- 
adequate to  choose  such  a  righteousness,  or  to 
compel  ourselves  to  live  out  such  a  holiness. 

The  only  remedy  is  the  Divine  enlargement  of 
heart  which  comes  from  the  visitation  of  the  Spirit. 
We  carry  our  brokenness  to  God  ;  we  put  our 
helpless  will  at  His  feet,  and  He  energises  it,  and 
sends  us  back  from  the  altar-steps,  or  from  the 
glory  where  we  have  met  with  Him,  able  to  say, 
"  I  delight  to  do  Thy  will,  O  my  God." 

And  although  for  each  one  of  us  there  will  be 
a  Gethsemane,  "  a  place  of  tears,"  as  there  was  for 
the  Master,  yet  we  shall  come  through  with  our 
will  unbroken,  because  it  will  be  the  will  of  God 
strong  within  us. 

(4)  How  small  is  our  capacity  for  loving  or 
forgiving.  Many  think  they  have  capacity  for  an 
infinite  love,  and  would  be  able  to  exhibit  it  if 


52  HEART 

they  could  find  a  worthy  object.  But  I  believe 
our  love  is  a  strictly  measurable  quantity,  and  de- 
pendent on  the  state  of  grace  we  are  in.  Only 
those  who  have  the  Spirit  within  them,  energising 
them,  can  truly  love  at  all.  Again,  we  fall  at  the 
Lord's  feet,  and  tell  Him  we  have  no  power  even 
to  be  civil  to  some  people,  much  less  to  love  them  ; 
scarcely  power  to  put  up  the  weapons  of  revenge 
against  some ;  and  even  to  those  whom,  like  the 
publicans  and  Pharisees  and  sinners,  we  love  because 
they  love  us,  we  have  not  been  able  to  make  an 
adequate  return  for  the  love  they  have  lavished 
upon  us.  Then  God  teaches  us  that  there  lies  in 
Him  the  power  of  enlarging  the  human  affections, 
and  He  enlarges  our  hearts  that  we,  "  being  rooted 
and  grounded  in  love," — not  only  in  the  experi- 
mental realisation  of  His  love  to  us,  but  also  in 
the  experimental  living  out  of  our  love  to  Him, 
and  to  all  that  He  has  made  and  given  us, — are 
able  to  "  run  the  way  of  His  commandments." 
For  that  is  His  new  commandment,  "  that  we  love 
one  another."  Our  practical  state  will  depend  on 
the  enlarging  of  our  hearts.  We  talk  of  large- 
hearted  people,  but  they  are  not  so  by  nature  in 


ENLARGEMENT  53 

the  sense  God  wishes.  It  needs  a  Divine  opera- 
tion and  a  definite  Divine  experience  to  enable  us 
to  live  out  the  law  of  the  New  Testament. 

Thus  to  do  more,  we  must  first  of  all  be  more. 
This  is  the  Gospel  way  all  through.  God  never 
teaches  us  that  we  are  to  do  and  afterwards  to  be. 
What  preachers  tell  you  about  dead  works  means 
simply  that  it  is  a  mistake  for  us  to  try  to  do 
before  we  have  learned  to  be.  You  may  see  a 
little  child  trying  to  lift  a  heavy  weight,  and  you 
tell  it  that  it  must  wait  till  its  muscles  are  stronger : 
it  must  wait  till  it  has  become.  This  was  the  way 
at  the  beginning  in  conversion :  "  dead  works " 
means  that  in  us  there  does  not  dwell  force  or 
power  to  lift  the  great  weight  of  the  commandment 
or  righteousness  of  God  ;  hence  they  are  useless  or 
stupid  works.  When  you  find  in  your  heart  your 
inability  to  fulfil  the  Divine  commandment,  and 
have  not  the  strength  and  power  you  want,  though 
all  day  trying  to  lift  the  heavy  weight,  you  come 
to  God  and  say,  "It  is  plain  that,  as  I  am,  I  can- 
not live  out  this  righteousness,  and  I  come  for  a 
new  life  to  live  it  out.  I  must  have  Thine  own 
strength."     Then  we  understand  our  Lord's  say- 


54  HEART 

ing,  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see 
the  kingdom  of  God." 

You  have  lived  this  out  in  some  way  since  you 
were  converted  ;  but  you  have  not  realised  enough 
the  more  blessed  life  ;  you  know  a  little  of  walk- 
ing in  the  way,  but  running  in  the  way  brings  you 
face  to  face  with  something  outside  your  strength 
and  power.  It  is  no  use  to  try  and  do  work  which 
needs  a  stronger  man,  unless  we  can  become 
stronger  men.  Many  make  a  mistake  here  ;  they 
are  trying  to  live  out  holiness  before  they  have 
got  the  heart  -  enlarging.  But  it  is  no  use  our 
trying  to  be  holy,  until  God  makes  us  holy.  We 
try  to  take  the  first  part  of  the  verse  alone,  and 
then  we  break  down.  "  My  heart  breaks  down  : 
I  can  never  be  a  runner."  You  are  trying  to  live 
out  His  commandments,  without  having  the  visita- 
tion of  the  enlarged  heart ;  you  must  get  on  to 
definite  dealings  with  God  for  a  visitation  of  the 
Spirit ;  when  He  has  come,  you  will  have  the 
strength  and  peace  of  God  with  you.  It  seems  to 
me  painfully  sad  to  hear  people  sorrowing :  "  I 
know  it  is  my  privilege,  but  I  cannot  make  it  real  ; 
and  although  one  can  sometimes  do  little  acts  of 


ENLARGEMENT  55 

mercy,  or  even  attain  to  humble  acts  of  faith,  the 
life  does  not  flow  on  naturally  and  simply."  And 
it  will  noty  unless  you  have  an  experience  at  the 
back  coming  out  of  His  visitation. 

To  do  more  we  must  be  more ;  get  a  new 
master,  be  a  new  man  ;  get  a  new  experience,  and 
you  will  be  a  new  Christian. 

All  writers  who  have  spoken  of  the  advanced 
spiritual  life  have  taught  that  there  is  an  enlarge- 
ment of  the  soul,  and  they  use  the  strongest 
language  possible. 

So  we  find  Madame  Guyon  saying : — 

"  This  vastness  or  enlargedness  which  is  not  bounded  by 
anything,  however  plain  and  simple  it  may  be,  increases 
every  day ;  so  that  my  soul  in  partaking  of  the  qualities  of 
her  spouse,  seems  also  to  partake  of  his  immensity." — 
Madame  Guyon,  vie.  ii.  4. 

And  Philo  :— 

"  Having  broken  the  chains  by  which  it  (the  soul)  was 
formerly  bound,  which  all  the  empty  anxieties  of  mortal  life 
fastened  round  it,  and  having  led  it  forth  and  emancipated 
it  from  them,  he  has  stretched,  and  extended,  and  diffused 
it  to  such  a  degree  that  it  reaches  even  the  extreme  bound- 
aries of  the  universe,  and  is  borne  onwards  to  the  beauti- 


56  HEART 

ful  and  glorious  sight  of  the  uncreated  God." — Philo^  de 
ebrietate,  37. 

So  in  Dr.  Cudworth's  sermon,  which  was  printed 
some  time  ago  : — 

"When  we  have  cashiered  this  self-will  of  ours,  which 
did  but  shackle  and  confine  our  soules,  our  wills  shall  then 
become  truly  free,  being  widened  and  enlarged  to  the  extent 
of  God's  own  will." — Cudworth,  Sermon  before  the  House 
of  Commons,  p.  21. 

"  There  is  a  straitnesse,  slavery,  and  narrownesse  in  all 
sinne ;  sinne  crowds  and  crumples  up  our  souls,  which,  if 
they  were  freely  spread  abroad,  would  be  as  wide  and  large 
as  the  whole  universe.  No  man  is  truly  free  but  he  that 
hath  his  will  enlarged  to  the  extent  of  God's  own  will,  by 
loving  whatsoever  God  loves,  and  nothing  else.  ...  He 
enjoys  a  boundlesse  liberty  and  a  boundlesse  sweetnesse, 
according  to  his  boundlesse  love.  He  enclaspeth  the  whole 
world  within  his  outstretched  arms,  his  soul  is  as  wide  as 
the  whole  universe,  as  big  as  yesterday,  to-day  and  for  ever. 
Whosoever  is  once  acquainted  with  this  disposition  of  spirit, 
he  never  desires  anything  else ;  and  he  loves  the  *  life  of 
God'  in  himself,  dearer  than  his  own  life." — Id.,  p.  56. 

And  finally  in  the  Imitatio  Christi-. — 

"  They  that  willingly  and  freely  serve  Me  shall  receive 
grace  for  grace.     But  he  who  desires  to  glory  in  things  out 


ENLARGEMENT  57 

of  Me,  or  to  take  pleasure  in  some  private  good,  shall  not 
be  grounded  in  true  joy,  nor  be  enlarged  in  his  heart,  but 
shall  many  ways  be  encumbered  and  straitened.  .  .  .  And 
if  heavenly  grace  enter  in  and  true  charity,  there  will  be  no 
envy  nor  narrowness  of  heart,  neither  will  self-love  busy 
itself.  For  Divine  charity  overcometh  all  things  and  en- 
largeth  all  the  powers  of  the  soul." — De  Imitatione  Christi^ 
iii.  9. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  self  can  never  measure 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Divine  love,  and 
run  in  the  way  of  His  commandment.  We  need 
God  to  make  us  understand  God  ;  we  must  be  in 
union  with  Him  in  order  to  obey  Him.  Distances 
on  the  earth  may  be  measured  by  a  foot-rule  or  a 
surveyor's  chain,  but  to  measure  the  spaces  between 
the  stars  we  must  have  a  base-line  in  the  sky. 
Only  by  being  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature  can 
we  live  out  the  Divine  life  ;  and  no  man  knoweth 
the  Father  save  the  Son,  and  He  to  whom  the 
Son  will  reveal  Him. 


HE  RESTORETH  MY  SOUL 


V 
HE  RESTORETH  MY  SOUL 

"  So  when  they  had  dined,  Jesus  saith  to  Simon  Peter,  Simon, 
son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou  Me  more  than  these  ?  He  saith 
unto  Him,  Yea,  Lord  ;  Thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee.  He 
saith  unto  him.  Feed  My  lambs. 

**  He  saith  to  him  again  the  second  time,  Simon,  son  of  Jonas, 
lovest  thou  Me  ?  He  saith  unto  Him,  Yea,  Lord ;  Thou 
knowest  that  I  love  Thee.  He  saith  unto  him.  Feed  My 
sheep. 

**  He  saith  unto  him  the  third  time,  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest 
thou  Me  ?  Peter  was  grieved  because  He  saith  unto  him  the 
third  time,  Lovest  thou  Me  ?  And  he  saith  unto  Him,  Lord, 
Thou  knowest  all  things ;  Thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee. 
Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Feed  My  sheep." — John  xxi.  15-17. 

The  whole  story  contained  in  these  verses  carries 
us  back  in  thought  to  the  time  when  Peter  denied 
the  Lord.  They  contain  the  first  recorded  words 
which  passed  between  Christ  and  Peter  since  the 


62  HE  RESTORETH 

latter  had  said,  "  I  know  not  the  man,"  and  the 
Lord  had  "  turned  and  looked  upon  Peter."  He 
had  his  special  token  of  lovingkindness  at  the 
Resurrection  in  the  message  which  the  woman 
brought :  "  Tell  His  disciples  and  Peter,"  in  the 
witness  given  to  himself,  "  The  Lord  is  risen 
indeed,  and  hath  appeared  to  Simon,"  and  in  his 
participation  in  the  blessing  when  the  Lord  stood 
in  the  midst  and  said,  "  Peace  be  unto  you "  ; 
but  these  are,  I  think,  the  first  recorded  words 
addressed  directly  to  Peter. 

Peter  had  professed  to  be  faithful  above  others  ; 
and  now  the  Lord  asks  him,  "  Lovest  thou  Me 
more  than  these?"  and  the  question  thrice  repeated 
can  scarcely  fail  to  remind  us  of  the  triple  denial. 

If  we  consider  what  must  have  been  the  state 
of  Peter's  mind  after  he  had  denied  the  Lord,  we 
shall  see  that  the  circumstances  recorded  indicate 
a  crisis  in  his  life-history.  How  the  enemy  must 
have  come  in  like  a  flood  !  what  desolation  of 
spirit  he  must  have  experienced  during  those 
lonely  moments  that  followed  the  look  of  the 
Lord,  when  he  went  out,  and  wept  bitterly !  the 
enemy  was  come  against  him   in  full  force,  and 


MY  SOUL         .  63 

legions  of  evil  spirits  had  arisen  to  destroy  his 
faith  for  ever. 

One  would  say  to  him,  "Thou  hast  sinned 
against  special  warnings  ;  the  Lord  said  to  thee 
particularly  that  Satan  had  desired  to  have  thee 
that  he  might  sift  thee  as  wheat.  A  little  later 
on  He  said,  'Pray  that  ye  enter  not  into  tempta- 
tion ; '  and  a  sin  against  special  warning  is  more 
than  twice  a  sin  ;  and  it  was  that  sin  which  of  all 
others  thou  didst  think  to  be  so  great  that  it  was 
impossible  for  thee  to  commit  it." 

Then  another  spirit  would  say,  "  Thou  hast 
sinned  against  special  promise ;  for  thee  the 
Saviour  prayed  ;  but  now  it  is  clear  that  thou 
hast  outsinned  the  Mediator's  grace  and  the  In- 
tercessor's prayers "  ;  and  at  the  thought  black 
despair  and  utter  hopelessness  would  enter  his 
soul,  as  if  to  make  it  their  eternal  abode. 

Then  a  third  spirit  would  suggest  the  thought, 
"  I  said,  *  I  know  not  the  man  ! '  Dost  remember, 
Peter,  how  He  Himself  said,  '  I  will  declare  unto 
you,  that  I  never  knew  you  ; '  and  again,  *  Who- 
soever denieth  Me  before  men,  him  will  I  also 
deny  before  My  Father  in   Heaven  ! '     No  word 


64  HE  RESTORETH 

of  Christ  shall  be  broken  ;  yea,  thou  thyself  hast 
in  past  time  established  thyself  on  the  faithfulness 
of  His  truth  !  " 

Again  would  come  the  thought,  "  By  thy  words 
shalt  thou  be  justified,  and  by  thy  words  thou 
shalt  be  condemned  ;  and  of  every  idle  word  that 
men  shall  speak  they  shall  give  an  account  in  the 
day  of  judgment — how  much  more  then  for  a 
deliberate  word,  affirmed,  and  reaffirmed,  and 
affirmed  again." 

It  was  as  if  a  judgment-seat  were  already  set 
up  in  his  soul,  and  the  spirits  were  pleading  him 
outside  mercy ;  not  one  would  speak  in  his 
behalf  Even  the  promises  and  the  threatenings 
were  against  him ;  the  first  saying,  we  strengthened 
him ;  and  the  second,  we  warned  him.  Then 
some  voices  would  testify  against  him  on  a  side 
where  one  would  think  nothing  would  have  been 
said,  "  Thou  hast  injured  the  faith ;  thou  hast 
weakened  the  brethren ;  thou  hast  been  infidel 
against  love,  and  for  such  there  is  no  repentance ; 
thou  hast  sold  thy  Lord  at  a  cheaper  rate  than 
Judas  ! " 

"  Dost  thou  remember,  Peter,  that  tree  which 


MV  SOUL  6s 

the  Lord  cursed,  because,  when  He  had  a  right  to 
expect  fruit  from  it,  it  bore  none  ?  Was  there  ever 
a  time  when  the  Master  expected  so  much  from 
thee  as  this  ?  and  now  He  has  come,  and  found 
*  nothing  but  leaves.'  " 

Then,  perhaps,  one  ray  of  hope  would  gleam 
into  his  darkened  soul — "  But  the  Lord  did  pray 
for  me,  and  He  never  prayed  in  vain.  He  said. 
Father,  I  know  that  Thou  hearest  Me  always ; 
and  He  prayed  for  me." 

And  then  the  spirits  would  answer,  "  But  the 
Lord  prayed  for  thee  that  thy  faith  might  not  fail, 
and  zt  has  failed  \  where  now  is  the  power  of  the 
Lord's  prayer?  And  if  that  has  failed  what 
remains  for  thee  unless  it  be  a  certain  fearful 
looking-for  of  judgment.  If  even  He  who  said, 
'Father,  I  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hearest  Me 
always,'  has  been  refused  in  His  petition  ;  even 
God  is  against  thee,  and  the  stars  in  their 
courses  rule  thee  down,  Simon,  son  of  Jonas." 

Another  bitter  shaft  enters  his  heart:  "Dost 
thou  remember,  Peter,  how  the  Lord  said  of  His 
own  followers,  '  I  have  kept  them  in  Thy  name, 
and  none  of  them  is  lost  but  the  son  of  perdition  '  ? 


66  HE  RESTORETH 

Thou  hast  not  only  made  vain  the  Lord's  prayers, 
but  denied  the  Lord's  faith,  and  caused  Him  to 
appear  before  heaven  and  earth  as  a  false  witness. 
Would  He  speak  like  that  now,  if  He  were  begin- 
ning His  intercessory  prayer  again  ?  Would  He 
not  have  to  say, '  None  of  them  is  lost,  except  the 
Sons  of  Perdition,  the  Denier  and  the  Betrayer '  ? 
So  that  even  Christ's  words  failed  to  meet  his 
case." 

"And  now,  Peter,  the  high  priest  is  asking 
Him  of  His  disciples  and  His  doctrines  ;  what 
thoughts  must  be  in  His  mind  about  thee  when 
He  takes  up  His  testimony  concerning  those  for 
whom  He  has  lavished  His  life !  The  question 
will  wring  His  heart  anew  into  great  drops  of 
blood." 

"  Moreover,  thou  hast  sinned  against  the 
strongest  light  and  the  highest  privilege  ;  it  was 
given  to  thee  to  be  with  Him  at  the  most  solemn 
and  sacred  times  :  thou  wast  with  Him  at  the 
transfiguration  in  the  Holy  Mount ;  and  if  ever 
heaven  could  strengthen  earth,  thou  shouldst  have 
been  a  strong  man.  Thou  wast  with  Him  at 
times  of  special  Power,  when  only  two  or  three 


MY  SOUL  67 

were  privileged  to  see  the  grace  and  glory  flow 
down  upon  the  suffering  and  the  dying.  Will  not 
the  greatness  of  thy  privilege  be  the  greatness  of 
thy  condemnation  ?  He  always  chose  thee  to  be 
with  Him  in  special  times  when  He  went  apart 
for  prayer :  to  whom  much  is  given,  of  them  will 
much  be  required.  Oh  !  how  hast  thou  fallen  !  " 
and  the  spirits  away  in  the  darkness  would  say, 
"  Thou  art  become  even  as  one  of  us." 

Then  he  would  remember  how  in  his  own 
family,  almost  in  his  own  flesh,  he  had  received 
special  mercy ;  and  that  work  of  healing  would 
rise  up  to  condemn  him.  Sin  against  mercy  is 
sin  without  mercy ;  a  thousand  times  thou  art 
condemned,  having  sinned  against  such  light  and 
privilege  and  grace. 

Then  some  spirits  would  whisper,  "  Dost  thou 
remember  how  when  many  were  leaving  the  Lord, 
because  His  doctrines  were  hard  to  receive  and 
His  steps  hard  to  follow.  He  asked  the  question, 
'  Will  ye  also  go  away  ? '  V/ho  was  it  that 
answered  so  readily,  '  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we 
go  ? '  Would  it  not  have  been  better  to  have 
denied  Him  at  the  first  than  to  have  waited  till 


68  HE  RESTORETH 

the  light  had  grown  as  clear  as  it  has  been,  and 
to  have  deserted  Him  when  He  needed  thee  most? 
Better  to  have  denied  Him  then,  when  evidence 
was  feeble,  than  to  disown  Him,  known  as  thou 
hast  been  privileged  to  know  Him  ! " 

We  are  not  told  one  word  about  what  Peter  did 
or  where  he  went,  except  that  he  went  out  weeping. 
When  the  morning  came  and  they  were  leading 
Jesus  away  to  crucifixion,  John  was  there,  but  no 
mention  is  made  of  Peter.  And  yet  I  think  I 
know  where  he  went,  and  can  see  him  taking  his 
way  across  the  brook,  which  so  lately  he  had 
crossed  with  Jesus,  to  the  garden  of  olive-trees. 
He  would  say  to  himself,  "  Here  is  the  place  where 
the  Lord  came  and  found  me  sleeping "  ;  and 
"  Here  He  said  to  me,  *  Pray,  pray,  that  ye  enter 
not  into  temptation.' "  Going  a  little  farther,  he 
would  come  to  the  place  where  the  Master  Himself 
had  prayed.  He  would  kneel  and  pray  there  too  ; 
in  the  place  where  there  were  still  lying  on  the 
ground  great  drops  of  blood,  the  earth  still  wet 
with  the  strange  sorrow  of  the  Lamb.  There,  in 
his  despair,  he  would  kneel ;  and  yet  even  in  his 
despair  would  be  turned  towards  God.     His  heart 


MY  SOUL  69 

would  be  turned,  even  when  he  thought  it  never 
would  be  turned  again  ;  he  would  be  there,  with- 
out comfort,  and  yet  God  comforting  him.  Maybe, 
for  him,  too,  there  were  strengthening  angelic 
ministries  ;  for  there  are  more  of  these  heavenly 
messengers  with  us  than  we  think.  Perhaps  some 
words  of  ancient  promise  might  be  brought  to  his 
mind  by  God,  as  he  was  kneeling  there ;  such  as, 
"  My  soul  cleaveth  unto  the  dust,  quicken  Thou 
me  according  to  Thy  word  ! "  "A  bruised  reed 
He  will  not  break,  and  smoking  flax  He  will  not 
quench,  till  He  bring  forth  judgment  into  victory." 
"  He  restoreth  my  soul.  He  leadeth  me  in  the  paths 
of  righteousness  for  His  name's  sake."  But  what- 
ever means  were  adopted,  we  believe  that  God  was 
with  him — comforting,  restoring,  saving,  strength- 
ening him.  All  this  prepares  us  for  the  scene  by 
the  Lake. 

This  must  have  struck  Peter  as  very  like  another 
passage  in  the  intercourse  between  him  and  Jesus. 
Strange  scene !  we  are  back  in  Galilee ;  we 
experience  again  a  night  of  fruitless  toil.  This 
was  my  place  of  consecration  at  the  first ;  and 
these  nets,  which  I  borrow  now,  were   then  my 


70  HE  RESTORETH 

own  ;  and  it  was  in  the  morning  that  the  Lord 
was  standing  on  the  beach,  as  He  did  even  now. 

There  is  no  mere  repetition  in  this  story :  to  a 
soul  in  Peter's  case  the  one  impossible  thing  would 
be  that  he  should  ever  regain  the  place  from 
whence  he  fell.  And  the  Lord  was  going  to  con- 
vince him,  by  means  of  these  similar  circumstances 
and  the  miraculous  draught  of  great  fishes,  that 
there  was  for  him,  even  for  him,  such  a  thing  as  a 
fresh  start ;  and  that  he  should  not  mourn  because 
there  was  "  no  returning  upon  his  former  track." 
When  the  boat  had  been  brought  to  land,  the 
Lord  questioned  Peter,  not  saying,  "Thou  didst 
deny  Me,"  but  "  Dost  thou  love  Me  ?  "  and  finally 
repeats  in  his  ears  the  old  word  with  which  He 
moved  him  to  tread  the  heavenly  way  at  the  first 
— "  Follow  thou  Me." 

There  were  now  no  boats  or  nets  which  Peter 
coiild  leave  for  the  Lord,  but  the  whole  drama  of 
consecration  is  acted  over  again.  "  Follow  Me, 
Peter ;  what  thou  hast  missed  shall  yet  be  given 
thee  ;  formerly  there  was  a  point  beyond  which 
thou  couldst  not  follow  Me  ;  but  now  thou  shalt 
tread  in  My  footsteps,  even  to  the  cross  which  thou 


MY  SOUL  71 

didst  fear  at  the  first,  and  to  the  shame  from  which 
erewhile  thy  soul  recoiled."  "  Another  shall  carry 
thee  whither  thou  wouldest  not :  this  spake  He, 
signifying  by  what  death  he  should  glorify 
God." 


ADDITION  AND  MULTIPLICATION 


VI 

ADDITION  AND  MULTIPLICATION 

**  He  that  lacketh  these  things  is  blind  and  short-sighted,  and  hath 
forgotten  that  he  was  purged  from  his  old  sins. " — 2  Peter  i.  9. 

The  chapter  from  which  these  verses  are  taken 
describes  two  arithmetical  processes,  the  working 
out  of  one  of  which  belongs  to  us,  and  of  the  other 
to  our  Father  in  heaven.  The  first  is  an  addition 
sum  :  "  Add  to  your  faith  virtue ;  and  to  virtue 
knowledge  ;  and  to  knowledge  temperance ;  and 
to  temperance  patience ;  and  to  patience  godli- 
ness ;  and  to  godliness  brotherly-kindness ;  and 
to  brotherly-kindness  love."  Writing  down  the 
figures  of  the  sum,  and  computing  the  total,  we 
have  it  set  out  fair  and  clear, — "  Ye  shall  never 
fall."  The  other  is  God's  multiplication  sum : 
"  Grace   and   peace   be  multiplied  to  you  in  the 


76  ADDITION  AND 

knowledge  of  God  and  of  Jesus  our  Lord  "  ;  and 
the  result  of  the  working  comes  out, — "  Ye  shall 
be  made  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature,  having 
escaped  the  corruption  that  is  in  the  world  through 
lust."  I  suppose  it  means  that  if  we  are  willing 
to  go  on  at  an  arithmetical  progression,  God  would 
work  in  us  at  a  geometrical  one  ;  and  so,  patiently 
persisting  in  holiness,  and  hungering  after  right- 
eousness, we  shall  be  in  heaven  before  we  know 
where  we  are. 

But  such  passages  trouble  some  folk  who  don't 
like  to  think  that  a  Christian  has  anything  to  do 
in  the  matter  of  his  own  salvation  ;  who  say  "  It 
is  finished "  over  a  work  that  is  only  begun  in 
them,  and  "  Jesus  paid  it  all,"  when  a  voice  within 
is  saying,  "  How  much  owest  thou  unto  thy  Lord  ?  " 
or,  perhaps,  if  they  do  not  put  it  quite  so  strongly 
as  that,  they  are,  to  say  the  least,  gravely  suspicious 
of  the  existence  of  a  creaturely  activity  in  the 
spiritual  life. 

Let  us  settle,  then,  in  the  beginning,  that  God 
never  requires  us  to  exercise  ourselves  to  win  His 
favour,  nor  calls  us  to  work  for  One  in  whom  we 
have  no  faith.      He  never  says,  "  Add  to  your  dark- 


MUL  TIP  Lie  A  TION  77 

ness  grace  ;  and  to  grace  mercy  ;  and  to  mercy 
peace."  That  would  be  impossible ;  for  grace, 
mercy,  and  peace  are  experienced  in  the  Divine 
operation  ;  and  it  is  because  we  have  so  received 
them  that  we  are  able  to  fulfil  the  commandments 
given  to  us.  God  sets  us  this  sum  to  work,  but 
He  gives  us  a  clean  slate  on  which  to  work  it ;  He 
cleanses  that  inward  tablet  on  which  we  have  been 
working  out  quite  a  different  sum,  whose  total  is 
given  in  the  words, — "The  wages  of  sin  is  death"; 
He  purifies  it,  that  there  may  be  written  thereon 
the  steps  and  the  summation  of  the  redemption 
that  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  Now,  some  one  will  say, 
"  Does  every  one  have  to  go  through  a  process  of 
development  of  virtues  such  as  is  indicated  in  this 
epistle,  and  must  every  one  have  them  all,  and 
produce  them  in  the  same  order?  May  we  not 
develop  just  a  few  of  them,  by  a  sort  of  spiritual 
selection,  as  flowers  have  their  own  colours,  and 
the  creatures  their  own  forms  and  features  ?  "  To 
this  we  answer  (i.)  that  if  you  are  to  be  a  saint,  as 
God  has  called  you  to  be,  you  must  have  the 
qualifications  and  nature  of  a  saint ;  (ii.)  we  ought 
not  to  recoil  from  this  sum,  as  if  the  casting  of  the 


78  ADDITION  AND 

figures  were  necessarily  a  long  process.  No,  not 
long !  how  long  does  it  take  one  to  reach  love  ? 
Why,  we  commonly  use  the  expression  "  falling  in 
love "  ;  and  when  the  heart  is  awakened  to  the 
sense  of  the  universal  presence  of  the  Father,  it  is 
not  difficult  to  love  men  for  His  sake.  As  for  the 
virtues,  we  must  have  them  all.  Shall  we  imagine 
an  impatient  saint,  called  to  follow  Him  who  when 
reviled,  reviled  not  again  ;  an  ignorant  saint,  a 
partaker  of  Him  in  whom  are  hid  all  the  treasures 
of  wisdom  and  knowledge  ;  an  intemperate  saint, 
to  follow  Him  who  was  living  at  a  cheaper  rate, 
for  a  man,  than  the  foxes  or  the  fowls ;  an  un- 
loving saint !  into  whose  heart  have  been  breathed 
the  words,  "  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law,"  or, 
which  is  the  sam.e  thing,  "  Christ  is  the  end  of  the 
law  for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth"? 
Yes,  we  must  have  them  all.  What,  will  you  com- 
plain, like  little  children,  because  your  Teacher  has 
been  giving  you  too  many  rows  to  add  up?  will 
you  say,  "  Lord,  you  overrate  my  powers ;  you 
think  too  highly  of  the  grace  that  you  have  given 
me ;  I  know  you,  that  you  are  a  hard  man,  an 
austere  man  "  ? 


MULTIPLICATION  79 

Does  it  matter  in  what  order  we  ascend  our 
virtue-scale?  Not  at  all.  An  addition  sum 
comes  to  the  same  thing  whether  you  put  it  2  +  3 
or  3  4-  2.  For  myself,  I  would  like  to  begin  the 
addition  from  the  bottom  row,  starting  with  love ; 
but  it  does  not  matter,  so  that  all  the  figures  are 
included.  The  Apostle  goes  on  to  speak  of  the 
effect  of  such  a  chain  of  experience  upon  the  per- 
ceptive powers  of  the  soul ;  he  who  has  these 
things,  well  ;  his  eye  shall  see  the  King  in  His 
beauty  and  the  land  of  far  distances  ;  he  who  has 
them  not,  he  is  blind  and  short-sighted  ;  or,  as 
Luther  and  the  Vulgate  render  it,  is  blind,  and 
gropes  with  his  hands.  Spiritual  short-sightedness 
is  the  result  of  the  neglect  of  the  pursuit  of  the 
prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ.  An 
indistinct  vision  may  result  from  one  of  two  causes : 
a  fault  in  the  eye,  or  an  obstruction  in  the  atmo- 
sphere. If  you  cannot  make  out  a  distant  object 
while  other  people  can,  they  will  say  to  you,  "  How 
short-sighted  you  are ! "  but  if  no  one  can  discern 
it,  the  probability  is  that  something  external  has 
made  vision  impossible.  Now,  in  the  things  of 
God,  it  is  almost  always  the  first  defect  that  mars 


8o  ADDITION  AND 

our  perception ;  and  the  main  reason  why  "  eye  hath 
not  seen  "  is  in  our  own  nature,  and  not  because 
God  has  not  prepared  nor  revealed  such  things 
for  our  perception.  To  them  that  love  Him,  He 
reveals  ;  wherefore  let  us  add  to  kindness  love, 
and  we  shall  know.  There  are  many  things  to 
which  we  are  blind,  because  we  have  not  practised 
ourselves  in  looking  for  them,  nor  do  we  know  in 
what  direction  to  look.  I  remember,  when  in  the 
Isle  of  Arran,  watching  through  a  mist  for  the 
coming  of  the  steamer  from  Glasgow  ;  our  land- 
lady found  it  long  before  we  could  detect  it, 
because  she  was  more  used  to  the  quest ;  her 
eyes  were  keener,  and  she  knew  the  direction 
in  which  to  look.  And  the  soul  that  ardently 
believes  and  hopes,  knows  well  how  to  lift  up  its 
eyes  to  the  hills  from  whence  its  help  shall  come, 
and  to  discern  the  help  when  it  appears. 

There  are  some  people  who  seem  ignorant  of 
the  fact  that  God  has  given  them  spiritual  faculties 
suited  to  the  observation  of  spiritual  realities. 
They  are  like  folks  who,  if  they  were  put  down 
ten  miles  from  home  on  a  clear  night,  would  never 
be  able  to  tell  you  on  which  side  of  the  sky  the  sun 


MULTIPLICATION  8i 

would  rise ;  because  they  never  exercised  their 
powers  in  the  observation  of  the  way  the  skies  go 
round.  And  not  only  may  we  discern  spiritual 
realities,  but  more  than  that,  it  is  written  that  the 
pure  in  heart  shall  see  God.  For  God  has  not 
given  up  revealing  Himself  to  men  yet ;  but  this 
is  an  age  in  which,  while  there  are  many  who 
know  Him  a  little,  there  are  few  who  know  Him 
much.  He  spake  to  the  fathers.  He  is  speaking 
still.  Enoch  was  not  the  last  of  whom  it  should 
be  said,  "  He  walked  with  God,  he  pleased  God  " ; 
Isaiah  not  the  only  one  who  could  say,  "  I  beheld 
the  Lord  sitting  on  a  throne  high  and  lifted  up  "  ; 
Paul  not  the  only  one  who  should  be  privileged 
with  rapture  to  the  third  heaven  ;  George  Fox  not 
the  only  one  to  whom  it  was  given  to  say,  "  I  was 
come  up,  through  the  flaming  sword,  into  the 
Paradise  of  God."  Many  there  are  who  have 
known  "  the  Most  High  God  no  vision,  nor  that 
One  who  rose  again." 

God,  who  at  sundry  times,  in  manners  many, 
Spake  to  the  fathers  and  is  speaking  still, 
Eager  to  find  if  ever,  or  if  any 
Souls  will  obey  and  hearken  to  His  will — 
G 


82  ADDITION  AND 

Who  that  one  moment  has  the  least  descried  Him, 

Dimly  and  faintly,  hidden  and  afar, 

Doth  not  despise  all  excellence  beside  Him, 

Pleasures  and  powers  that  are  not  and  that  are. 

Aye,  amid  all  men  bear  himself  thereafter, 

Smit  with  a  solemn  and  a  sweet  surprise. 

Dumb  to  their  scorn  and  turning  on  their  laughter 

Only  the  dominance  of  earnest  eyes. 

Whoso  has  felt  the  Spirit  of  the  Highest 

Cannot  confound  nor  doubt  Him  nor  deny ; 

Yea,  with  one  voice,  O  world,  though  thou  deniest, 

Stand  thou  on  that  side,  for  on  this  am  I. 

Yes !  things  that  were  seen  of  old  may  be  seen 
again  ;  voices  that  spake  to  prophets  and  seers  be 
revived  in  the  innermost  soul  of  God's  faithful 
children  ;  God  is  not  dead  ;  the  Lord  Jesus  has 
not  been  raised  from  the  grave  to  be  placed  in 
an  inaccessible  limbo,  far  from  the  sight  of  believing 
eyes  :  the  Holy  Spirit  still  speaks,  as  of  old  time, 
by  holy  men ;  He  has  not  left  the  world  yet,  He 
dwelleth  with  you.  He  shall  be  in  you. 

Suppose  I  were  to  say  to  you  that  if  you  were 
to  go  down  to  Hastings  you  would  be  able  to 
see  the  French  coast  clearly  and  distinctly,  you 
would  say,  "  Impossible  even  to  the  longest-sighted 


MUL  TIP  Lie  A  TION  Zt, 

person  ;  it  is  more  than  fifty  miles  away "  ;  and 
yet,  as  you  may  see  in  the  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions for  1798,  the  coast  of  France  was  so  visible, 
without  a  telescope,  from  Calais  to  St.  Vallery, 
with  the  fishing-boats,  and  the  colour  of  the  houses 
clearly  perceived.  When  you  hear  this,  you  say, 
"Well,  if  it  is  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions, 
it  must  be  true,  and  if  it  happened  once,  it 
may  happen  again."  Good  enough  reasoning ;  and 
the  Scriptures  are  the  Spiritual  Transactions,  the 
record  of  God's  dealings  with  and  revealings  to 
men  of  old  time.  If  they  are  true.  He  has  un- 
veiled the  hidden  mysteries  not  once  or  twice  to 
waiting  souls ;  and  what  He  has  done,  He  not 
only  may  do  again,  but  will  do,  wherever  He  finds 
a  truly  humble  heart  in  which  to  work  and  rest. 
If  He  stood  by  Paul,  saying,  "  Fear  not,"  just  as 
really  and  maybe  as  evidently  will  He  stand  by 
you.  If  He  guided  him  in  his  work,  restraining 
him  from  preaching  here,  and  calling  him  to  service 
there.  He  will  give  you  also  leadings  just  as  certain 
and  maybe  as  distinct.  But,  do  you  say,  "  Are  we 
then  to  seek  for  signs  and  wonders,  to  fast  and 
pray,  ardently  longing  for  the  Divine  revelation, 


84  ADDITION  AND  MULTIPLICA  TION 

until  the  vision  dawns  ?  "  I  do  not  say  so  :  but 
rather  add  unto  your  faith  virtue  ;  and  to  virtue 
knowledge  ;  and  to  knowledge  temperance ;  and 
to  temperance  patience ;  and  to  patience  godli- 
ness ;  and  to  godliness  brotherly  kindness ;  and  to 
brotherly  kindness  love  :  for  if  ye  do  these  things 
ye  shall  never  fall,  and  an  entrance  shall  be  abun- 
dantly ministered  unto  you  into  the  everlasting 
kingdom  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


A   CONFERENCE   ON   DEATH 


VII 

A  CONFERENCE  ON  DEATH 

"  And,  behold,  there  talked  with  Him  two  men,  which  were  Moses 
and  Elias,  who  appeared  in  glory,  and  spake  of  His  exodus 
which  He  should  accomplish  at  Jerusalem. " — Luke  ix.  30,  3 1. 

We  shall  not  attempt  to  explain  the  whole 
subject  of  the  Transfiguration,  but  let  us  consider 
for  what  Jesus  went  up  into  the  mountain.  The 
common  opinion  is  that  He  went  up  to  enjoy 
Himself — in  search  of  some  spiritual  ecstacy.  But 
in  this  case  there  would  have  been  no  transfigura- 
tion. Spiritual  rapture  comes  after  earnest  labour 
through  eager  prayer — it  is  not  found  by  seeking 
— we  have  not  to  look  for  feelings  or  ecstacies  ; 
we  need  "  to  know  the  will  of  God,  and  to  do  it." 

Jesus  went  up  into  the  mount  to  pray  about 
death — the  subject  which  had  a  little  before  been 


88  A  CONFERENCE 

borne  in  upon  His  mind — for  we  read  in  Matt.  xvi. 
2  1,  in  the  narration  of  events  just  preceding  the 
Transfiguration,  that  "  from  that  time  forth  began 
Jesus  to  show  unto  His  disciples,  how  that  He  must 
go  unto  Jerusalem,  and  suffer  many  things  of  the 
elders  and  chief  priests  and  scribes,  and  be  killed, 
and  be  raised  again  the  third  day."  When  the 
devil  took  Him  up  into  a  mountain,  he  showed 
Him  "  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory 
of  them,  and  said  unto  Him,  '  All  these  things  will 
I  give  Thee,  if  Thou  wilt  fall  down  and  worship 
me.' "  When  the  Spirit  of  God  took  Jesus  up 
into  the  mountain.  He  showed  Him  the  cross,  the 
shame,  the  suffering, — the  spear  and  the  crown  of 
thorns,  and  said,  "  All  these  will  I  give  Thee." 

The  highest  experiences  of  the  Christian  life 
are  close  bound  up,  in  the  Divine  will,  with  suffer- 
ing. Jesus  went  up  into  the  mount  to  get  a  better 
view  of  His  approaching  sorrow. 

The  Transfiguration  is  slightly  apprehended 
and  seldom  discussed.  Very  few  sermons  are 
preached,  or  great  pictures  painted,  or  hymns  sung, 
on  the  subject.  Almost  the  only  verse  one  knows 
about  it — 


ON  DEATH  89 

When  in  ecstacy  sublime 
Tabor's  glorious  steep  I  climb, 
At  the  too  transporting  light 
Darkness  rushes  o'er  my  sight, 

implies  that  it  is  a  subject  beyond  human  under- 
standing. 

We  have  hymns  on  His  Incarnation  and  Ad- 
vent, His  Divine  Glory  and  Worship,  His  Media- 
torial Character  and  Titles,  Passion,  Death,  Resur- 
rection, Ascension,  Intercession  and  Reign,  and 
the  Second  Advent,  but  none  specially  referring 
to  the  Transfiguration.  Yet  it  contains  many 
wonderful  lessons  we  all  need  to  know.  We  have 
felt,  perhaps,  that  it  was  an  experience  peculiar  to 
Christ — with  which  we  can  have  nothing  to  do — 
but  the  Scriptures  say  otherwise  ;  the  word  here 
rendered  "  transfigured  "  is  the  same  as  that  trans- 
lated "  transformed  "  in  Romans  xii.  2,  "  but  be  ye 
transfigured  by  the  renewing  of  your  minds,"  etc., 
and  "  changed,"  in  2  Cor.  iii.  1 8,  "  are  transfigured 
into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory."  We 
want  so  to  look  at  the  glory  of  Jesus,  that,  at  the 
same  time,  we  may  see  His  sorrow  as  well — and 
be  "  transfigured  into  the  same  image  ;  for  if  we 


90  A  CONFERENCE 

suffer  with    Him,  we  shall   also   be   glorified  to- 
gether." 

There  is  no  man  who  understands  the  Trans- 
figuration like  John  Ruskin.  He  says  :  "  We  are 
afraid  to  harbour  in  our  own  hearts,  or  to  utter  in 
the  hearing  of  others,  any  thought  of  our  Lord  as 
hungering,  tired,  or  sorrowful,  or  having  a  human 
soul,  a  human  will,  and  affected  by  the  events  of 
human  life  as  a  finite  creature  is  :  and  yet  one- 
half  of  the  efficacy  of  His  atonement  and  the  whole 
of  the  efficacy  of  His  example  depend  on  His 
having  been  this  to  the  full.  Consider  therefore 
the  Transfiguration  as  it  relates  to  the  human  feel- 
ings of  our  Lord.  It  was  the  first  definite  prepara- 
tion for  His  death.  .  .  .  What  other  hill  could  it 
have  been  than  the  southward  slope  of  that  goodly 
mountain,  Hermon,  which  is,  indeed,  the  centre  of 
all  the  promised  land,  from  the  entering  in  of 
Hamath  to  the  river  of  Egypt ;  the  mount  of 
fruitfulness,  from  which  the  springs  of  Jordan 
descended  to  the  valleys  of  Israel.  Along  its 
mighty  forest  avenues,  until  the  grass  grew  fair 
with  the  mountain  lilies,  His  feet  dashed  with  the 
dew  of  Hermon,  He  must  have  gone  to  pray  His 


ON  DEATH  91 

first  recorded  prayer  about  death  ;  and  from  the 
steep  of  it,  before  He  knelt,  could  see,  to  the  south, 
all  the  dwelling-places  of  the  people  that  had  sat 
in  darkness,  and  seen  the  great  light,  the  land  of 
Zabulon  and  of  Naphthali,  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles  : 
could  see  even  with  His  human  sight,  the  gleam 
of  that  lake  by  Capernaum  and  Chorazin,  and 
many  a  place  loved  by  Him  and  vainly  ministered 
to,  whose  house  was  now  left  unto  them  desolate : 
and,  chief  of  all,  far  in  the  utmost  blue,  the  hills 
above  Nazareth,  sloping  down  to  His  old  home  ; 
hills  on  which  the  stones  yet  lay  loose  that  had 
been  taken  up  to  cast  at  Him,  when  He  left  them 
for  ever.  *  And  as  He  prayed  two  men  stood  by 
Him.' " 

"  Among  the  many  ways  in  which  we  miss  the 
help  and  hold  of  Scripture,  there  is  none  more 
subtle  than  our  habit  of  supposing  that,  even  as 
man,  Christ  was  free  from  the  fear  of  death.  How 
could  He  then  have  been  tempted  as  we  are  ? — 
since  among  all  the  trials  of  the  earth  none 
spring  from  the  dust  more  terrible  than  that 
of  fear.  It  had  to  be  borne  by  Him  .  .  . 
and    the    presence    of   it    is    surely    marked    for 


92  A  CONFERENCE 

us    enough    by  the  rising    of   those   two   at  His 
side." 

It  was  Christ's  first  preparation  for  death — 
and,  therefore,  to  understand  His  Transfiguration 
we  must  understand  His  Crucifixion  too  ;  to  see 
Hermon,  we  must  go  to  Calvary  ;  to  discern  how 
the  fashion  of  His  countenance  was  altered,  we 
must  witness  that  other  time  in  the  garden,  when 
"  His  sweat  was  as  it  were  great  drops  of  blood 
falling  down  on  the  ground  "  ;  to  fathom  how  the 
three  disciples  slept  through  the  glory,  we  must 
remember  how  they  slept  through  the  sorrow  too. 

The  word  rendered  decease  is  a  strange  one. 
It  is  literally  exodus — "  going  out."  They  spake 
of  this  exodus  which  He  should  accomplish  at 
Jerusalem.  The  same  word  occurs  in  the  second 
epistle  of  Peter :  "  I  will  endeavour  that  ye  may 
be  able  after  my  exodus  to  have  these  things 
always  in  remembrance " ;  and  it  is  worthy  of 
notice  that  the  verses  which  follow  are  a  reminis- 
cence of  the  Transfiguration. 

We  have  conferences  on  many  subjects — on 
peace,  on  holiness,  on  temperance  :  who  ever  heard 
of  another  conference  (as  this  was)  on  death  ? 


ON  DEATH  93 

A  listener  might  have  heard  some  such  words 
as  these : — 

First  Moses  might  speak  :  "  I,  too,  know  what 
it  is  to  want  not  to  die.  I  did  not  fear  the  act  of 
dying,  but  the  manner — away  out  of  the  Promised 
Land.  But  when  I  saw  the  will  of  my  God  in  all 
its  beauty,  then  even  this  bitter  disappointment 
seemed  bearable,  and  the  kiss  of  my  God  at  the 
last  made  up  for  all.  Death  is  only  a  kiss  to 
those  who  love  God  ;  and  if  I  had  not  followed 
the  will  of  my  God  in  this,  what  had  I  not  lost  ? 
I  had  missed  burial  at  the  hands  of  the  sons  of 
God,  and  my  feet  would  not  now  be  standing  in 
His  presence." 

Then  Elias  might  say  :  "  I  had  no  fear  of  death : 
nay,  I  even  prayed  for  it,  saying,  O  Lord,  take 
away  my  life,  for  I  am  not  better  than  my  fathers. 
It  was  not  death  that  I  feared  so  much  as  the 
fashion  of  dying  when  I  fled  from  the  face  of 
Jezebel.  But  to-day  I  am  thankful  that  my  dying 
was  not  left  to  my  choosing ;  if  it  had  been  so,  I 
had  missed  the  fiery  chariot  by  which  I  climbed 
up  to  the  Presence  of  my  King, — the  swift  seraphic 
march  that  brought  me  home." 


94  A  CONFERENCE 

And  then  Jesus  might  say,  perhaps,  something 
like  these  words — 

I  wish  to  have  no  wishes  left. 
But  to  leave  all  to  Thee  .  .   . 
And  yet  two  wills  I  find  in  Me 
When  on  My  death  I  muse  ; 
But,  Lord,  I  have  a  death  to  die, 
And  not  a  death  to  choose. 

Then  Moses  might  speak  again  :  "  Let  us  call 
God's  providences  by  their  sweetest  names  :  death 
is  not  death  to  those  who  love  God.  Thou,  O 
Sinless  One,  call  it  not  death,  call  it  exodus.  It 
was  my  lot  once  to  lead  the  people  of  God  out  of 
slavery  and  degradation,  out  of  heavy  labour,  out 
of  the  furnace  of  iron  ;  and  yet  methinks  that  will 
be  the  true  exodus  when  Thy  people  pass  over,  O 
Lord,  Thy  people,  whom  Thou  hast  redeemed, 
when  Thou  by  Thy  dying  lips  dost  proclaim 
deliverance  to  the  captive,  and  the  opening  of  the 
prison  to  them  that  are  bound  ;  when,  through  the 
deep  sea  of  Thy  sorrows,  a  passage  is  made  by 
which  the  ransomed  shall  return.  Call  it  not 
death  ;  call  it  an  exodus — a  mighty  deliverance 
of  the  people  of  God." 


ON  DEATH  95 

Then  Elias  :  "  O  Son  of  God,  right  well  do  I 
know  that  the  strength  of  one  man  may  be  made 
the  strength  of  many  ;  and  the  triumph  of  many 
may  spring  from  the  victory  of  one.  I  myself  have 
stood  alone  in  the  face  of  an  opposing  people  ;  yet 
by  the  strength  of  God  I  came  off  conqueror,  and 
many  were  persuaded  to  cry,  '  The  Lord,  He  is 
God  ;  the  Lord,  He  is  God,'  and  the  power  yet 
remains  in  which  I  stood  ;  it  glows,  and  grows 
within  thee ;  it  floods  the  air ;  it  streams  down 
thy  garments.  Fear  not !  thou  shalt  bring  many 
souls,  not  merely  to  assent  to  the  truth,  but  to  the 
Truth  itself  And  especially  standing  conqueror 
over  death,  thou  shalt  deliver  them  who  were  all 
their  lives  in  bondage  through  the  fear  of  the  same. 
The  love  of  God  shall  uphold  thee ;  the  strength 
of  God  be  thine." 

Then  Jesus  :  **  In  the  volume  of  the  book  it  is 
written  of  Me,  I  delight  to  do  Thy  will,  O  My 
God." 

Then  Moses  might  continue  :  "  Death  is  our 
best  friend — he  strengthens  our  eyes  to  behold  the 
glory  which  in  the  flesh  it  would  blind  us  to  see. 
Once  I  was  afraid  to  behold  the  glory  of  God.     I 


96  A  CONFERENCE 

stood  in  a  cleft  of  the  rock,  covered,  as  He  passed 
by — but  now,  now,  I  can  bear  to  stand  and  gaze 
in  the  presence  of  my  King." 

Then  Elias  would  reply :  "  I  too  knew  what 
it  was  to  be  afraid  of  His  glory ;  in  the  mountain 
I  wrapped  my  face  in  my  mantle,  but  when  His 
swift  messengers  came  to  bear  me  home,  I  cast 
my  mantle  behind,  in  token  that  I  would  never 
need  it  to  shroud  my  face  again.  It  is  the  same 
for  Thee — already  that  glory  smites  upon  Thy 
forehead,  and  gilds  Thy  garments,  and  floods  Thy 
face  with  light,  but  beyond,  beyond.  Thou  shalt  be 
crowned  with  glory  and  honour." 

And  Jesus  would  say,  "  Thy  will  be  done — 
Thy  will  be  done." 

Then  Moses  once  more  :  "  A  mother  has  two 
kisses  for  her  child  :  one,  a  daybreak  kiss,  where- 
with she  draws  aside  the  curtains  of  the  soul ;  and 
one  a  good -night  kiss,  sometimes  given  in  the 
dark. 

"  And  so  hath  the  Eternal  His  two  loves  :  the 
love  in  the  light,  which  now  encircles  us  ;  and  the 
dark  love  on  which  our  souls  lean  back  to  sleep. 
Those  who  have  felt  God's  daylight  kiss  can  trust 


ON  DEATH  97 

Him  for  it  in  the  dark.  For  thee  to  die  will  only 
be  to  lie  back  in  the  Everlasting  Arms," 

Then  Jesus  :  "  Father,  into  Thy  hands  I  com- 
mend My  spirit" 

"  And  behold  there  talked  with  Him  two  men, 
which  were  Moses  and  Elias,  and  they  spake  of 
His  exodus  which  He  should  accomplish  at  Jeru- 
salem." 


CHRIST    WILL    TAKE    ALL 


VIII 
CHRIST  WILL  TAKE  ALL 

**  All  that  the  Father  giveth  Me  shall  come  to  Me." — ^John  vi.  37. 

If  one  were  left  to  determine  from  our  English 
Bible  the  meaning  of  this  passage,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  avoid  the  admission  that  it  gives 
countenance  to  that  form  of  doctrine  commonly- 
known  as  Calvinistic  ;  for  does  it  not  present  to 
us,  in  language  sufficiently  clear  and  obvious,  the 
Divine  Sovereignty  as  shown  in  Electing  Grace  ? 
Must  we  not  admit  that  there  are  those  who  by  a 
Supreme  Deed  of  Gift  are  allotted  to  the  mercies 
of  the  Son  ;  over  whom  He  exercises  the  care  of 
a  good  Shepherd  ;  and  is  it  not  difficult  to  resist 
the  conclusion  that,  as  there  are  some  who  are  the 
objects  of  special  solicitude  and  care,  so  there  are 


I02  CHRIST  WILL 

those  who  in  some  degree  lie  outside  the  sphere 
of  the  Divine  Benevolence  ? 

Again,  if  we  were  to  look  at  the  39th  verse  of 
this  same  chapter,  and  read  the  words,  "  This  is 
the  Father's  will  which  hath  sent  Me,  that  of  all 
which  He  hath  given  Me  I  should  lose  nothing, 
but  should  raise  it  up  again  at  the  last  day," 
should  we  not  say  that  the  natural  meaning  of 
the  passage  is  that  there  is  a  Doctrine  of  Final 
Perseverance,  linked  on  to  that  of  the  Election  of 
Grace,  and  a  necessary  corollary  to  it  ? 

But  when  we  turn  to  the  Greek,  we  notice  that 
in  the  first  of  the  verses  quoted  the  word  all  is  in 
the  neuter  gender,  and  so  does  not  necessarily 
apply  to  persons  at  all,  and  we  are  more  likely  to 
catch  the  true  meaning  of  the  words  by  reading  it 
as  follows :  "  Everything  that  the  Father  hath 
given  Me  shall  come  to  Me "  ;  and  in  the  other 
passage  a  similar  correction  must  be  made,  as  is 
otherwise  evident  from  the  last  part  of  the  passage, 
"  I  will  raise  it  up  at  the  last  day  " ;  "  Of  every- 
thing which  the  Father  hath  given  Me  I  should 
lose  nothing." 

Viewed    in    this    light,    the   words    that  were 


TAKE  ALL  103 

supposed  to  imply  election  teach  consecration, 
and  instead  of  final  perseverance  we  read  full 
possession.  And  this  we  do  not  say  with  any 
idea  of  refuting  Calvinistic  doctrine,  having  no 
"  isms "  of  our  own  and  little  time  to  spend  in 
attacking  those  of  other  people.  Likely  enough, 
our  rendering  of  the  words  may  be  incorrect,  and 
in  any  case  we  ought  carefully  to  compare  similar 
passages  in  the  Gospel  ;  but  be  that  as  it  may, 
the  truth  is  not  affected  that  the  Sovereignty  of 
God  and  the  Love  of  God  demand  the  full  sub- 
jection and  surrender  of  our  being  ;  and  we  are 
assured  that  where  these  conditions  are  fulfilled, 
the  Divine  Possession  and  Protection  become  an 
intense  and  abiding  reality. 

Now,  in  confirmation  of  our  rendering,  we  will 
examine  the  manner  in  which  the  passage  is  quoted 
by  John  Bunyan  ;  and  certainly  we  may  say  that 
if  there  was  a  Calvinistic  meaning  to  be  got  out 
of  a  passage,  John  Bunyan  was  not  the  man  to 
miss  it ;  and  moreover,  since  he  was  totally 
ignorant  of  Greek  (and  I  suppose  of  Latin,  too, 
there  being  only,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  solitary 
expression  in  the  Pilgrinis  Progress  "  de  carne  et 


I04  CHRIST  WILL 

sanguine  Christi,"  accompanied  by  the  marginal 
modesty,  "  the  Latin  I  borrow  "),  he  is  not  likely 
to  fall  into  the  mistake  to  which  we  may  be  liable, 
of  evading  the  plain  meaning  of  words  by  refer- 
ence to  the  original  tongue.  Turning,  then,  to  the 
Holy  War,  we  shall  find  the  following,  giving  an 
account  of  terms  proposed  by  Diabolus  for  the 
surrender  of  the  town  of  Mansoul ;  the  offer  of 
submission  being  made  through  his  ambassador, 
Mr.  Loth- to- Stoop.  "Then  Mr.  Loth-to-Stoop 
said  again,  *  Sir,  behold  the  condescension  of  my 
master !  He  says  that  he  will  be  content  if  he 
may  but  have  some  place  assigned  to  him  in  Man- 
soul  as  a  place  to  live  in  privately,  and  you  shall 
be  lord  of  all  the  rest !  *  Then  said  the  Golden 
Prince,  *  All  that  the  father  giveth  me  shall  come 
to  me,  and  of  all  that  he  giveth  me  I  will  lose 
nothing,  no,  not  an  hoof  or  an  hair.  I  will  not, 
therefore,  grant  him,  no,  not  the  least  corner  in 
Mansoul  to  dwell  in.  I  will  have  it  all  to  myself.'  " 
It  is  a  little  singular,  to  say  the  least,  that  he 
should  have  apprehended  both  the  passages  that 
we  quoted  in  their  right  sense ;  and  we  had  better 
attribute  his  accuracy  to  a  touch  of  true  inspiratioa 


TAKE  ALL  105 

Now,  passing  on  from  this  point,  we  may  think 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  a  twofold  character  : — 

1.  As  the  Receiver  appointed  to  collect  debts 
due  to  God. 

2.  As  the  Almoner  of  gifts  from  God  to  men. 
He  can  come  to  us  and  say,  "  My  Father  has 

appointed  Me  the  heir  of  all  things ;  He  has  put 
His  affairs  into  My  hands,  so  that  debts  to  Him 
are  debts  to  Me  ;  how  much,  therefore,  owest  thou 
to  thy  Lord  ?  For,  all  that  the  Father  giveth  Me 
shall  come  to  Me." 

He  can  come  to  us  again  and  say,  "  The  Father 
hath  given  Me  authority  over  all  flesh,  that  I 
should  impart  as  well  as  exact ;  that  I  may  give 
eternal  life  and  eternal  blessing,  and  Holy  Ghost 
to  as  many  as  believe ;  that  I  should  manifest  His 
name  to  you,  and  give  to  you  His  word  and  His 
Glory,  and  all  things  I  have  received  of  Him  ;  that 
I  should  give  unto  you  rest  and  My  own  joy,  and, 
by  way  of  legacy  in  a  will  which  the  enemy  cannot 
dispute,  should  leave  peace  with  you ;  finally, 
ascending  up  on  high,  should  send  gifts  to  men, 
even  to  the  rebellious,  that  the  Lord  their  God 
might  dwell  among  them.     For  He  that  spared 


io6  CHRIST  WILL 

not  His  own  Son,  but  delivered  Him  up  for  you 
all,  how  shall  He  not  with  Him  also  freely  give 
you  all  things.  How  much,  therefore,  hast  thou 
received  from  thy  Lord  ?  " 

And  if  we  look  at  it  rightly.  He  speaks  but 
little  of  the  dues,  and  much  of  the  gifts  ;  for  God 
only  exacts  from  us  that  He  may  be  able  to  im- 
part to  us  ;  there  is  no  tyrant  seated  on  the  throne 
of  the  universe,  but  only  a  Father  waiting  to  give 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  Him  ;  and  the 
uttermost  farthing  that  He  demands  from  us  is 
only  in  order  that  He  may  have  the  right  to  save 
us  to  the  uttermost,  if  we  could  but  believe  it. 

We  may  say  next,  that  if  our  ultimate  condition 
must  be  that  of  entire  subjection  and  surrender  to 
and  harmony  with  the  Divine  Will,  how  sad  it  is 
that  our  consecration  is  so  slow,  so  protracted,  so 
ungracious ;  that  we  take  so  much  time  to  reach 
the  point  where  we  are  altogether  the  Lord's. 
People  can  read  the  mystery  of  conversion  in 
the  parable  of  the  dry  bones  in  Ezekiel ;  but 
there  is  consecration  in  the  story,  too.  Little  by 
little  we  see  the  dead  man  coming  into  the  place 
of  blessing ;  bone  to  bone,  sinew  to  sinew,  nerve 


TAKE  ALL  107 

to  nerve  ;  and  when  there  is  the  complete  structure 
of  a  man,  comes  the  vivifying  breath  from  the  four 
winds.  Not  before,  for  God  must  have  a  man  to 
quicken  ;  He  does  not  inspire  skeletons  or  frag- 
ments ;  as  at  the  first,  when  a  man  stands  before 
Him,  He  breathes  into  him  the  breath  of  life  and 
he  becomes  a  living  soul. 

We  may  well  be  ashamed  when  we  think  of 
the  way  in  which  consecration  to  God  is  made. 
We  are  like  the  man  who,  because  he  was  irritated 
at  a  claim  made  upon  him  for  a  sum  of  money, 
went  and  paid  the  bill  in  farthings.  So  we  pay 
our  dues  to  God,  giving  as  little  as  we  can,  and 
taking  as  long  about  it  as  we  list.  Perhaps  it  is 
because  we  treat  Him  that  way,  that  God  is  obliged 
to  appear  exacting  and  talk  to  us  about  uttermost 
farthings  at  all. 

Perhaps  we  shall  be  right  in  concluding  from 
the  39th  verse,  that  there  is  something  in  the 
resurrection  contingent  on  the  consecration :  "  I 
will  raise  it  up  at  the  last  day  "  ;  of  one  thing  we 
may  be  very  sure,  that  the  life  to  come  is  not  only 
conterminous  with  but  continuous  with  the  life 
that  is.      Death  changes  our  surroundings  but  not 


io8  CHRIST  WILL  TAKE  ALL 

our  characters.  There  is  no  more  breach  of  con- 
tinuity in  those  than  there  is  in  an  algebraical  curve 
that  goes  to  infinity. 

We  may,  indeed,  get  dying  grace,  and  hold  a 
consecration  meeting  upon  our  dying  beds,  but  it 
is  not  death  that  consecrates,  nor  the  grave  that 
sanctifies  and  cleanses  from  all  sin.  We  shall 
begin  the  next  life  pretty  much  where  we  left  off 
in  this.     We  were  singing  a  little  while  ago — 

Let  the  veil  become  more  thin, 
Let  the  glory  pierce  between  ; 

but,  mark  you,  that  veil  does  not  become  more 
thin  by  pulling  out  a  thread  here  and  a  thread 
there ;  remember  how  at  the  Crucifixion  the  veil 
of  the  temple  was  rent  in  twain  from  the  top  to 
the  bottom  ;  the  veil  that  is  on  your  heart  will  go 
like  that,  when  the  day  comes  for  things  to  appear 
which  now  are  numbered  amongst  things  not  seen 
as  yet,  and  for  you  to  apprehend  and  participate 
in  the  things  which  God  has  laid  up  for  those  who 
love  Him. 


STRONG    CRYING 


IX 

STRONG  CRYING 

"  The  energised  prayer  of  a  righteous  man  is  of  great  force." — 
James  v.  i6. 

It  is  strange  that  we  understand  so  little  about 
prayer:  with  most  people,  including  the  greater 
part  of  the  professedly  religious,  it  is  regarded 
simply  as  a  sort  of  spiritual  safety-valve,  adapted 
to  relieve  the  soul  from  strain  and  over-pressure  ; 
is  any  afflicted,  they  say,  let  him  pray  ;  and  as  for 
us,  who  are  merry,  we  will  sing  psalms. 

Now,  if  we  were  looking  at  a  steam-engine,  and 
meditating  over  the  motive  power  of  it,  we  should 
scarcely  direct  our  thoughts  to  the  safety-valve, 
or  say  of  it,  "  What  a  mighty  power  is  stored  up 
in  this  little  lever."  On  the  contrary,  our  attention 
would  be  fixed  on  the  piston  and  the  steam  at  the 


112  STRONG 

back  of  it,  and  on  the  laws  which  govern  its  pro- 
duction, expansion,  and  condensation.  And  we 
need  scarcely  say  that  there  is  not  much  in  common 
between  those  who  regard  prayer  simply  as  an 
emotional  safety-valve,  and  those  who  look  upon 
it  as  one  of  the  great  moving  forces  of  the  spiritual 
world.  It  happens  often  enough  that  there  are 
forces  in  the  world  of  which  people  generally  cire 
ignorant,  or  of  which  they  have  an  idea  that  is 
totally  inadequate.  As,  for  instance,  we  have  known 
cynical  politicians  deride  the  expression  of  public 
opinion,  as  being  only  valuable  as  a  political  safety- 
valve,  and  useful  to  keep  the  "  many  -  headed 
monster,"  the  populace,  from  more  dangerous 
courses  ;  but  not  once  or  twice  have  they  been 
awakened  to  find  that  there  is  nothing  to  stand 
before  the  rush  of  a  well-formed  public  sentiment. 
So  that  we  say  rightly  public  opinion  is  of  great 
force. 

And  certainly  the  idea  which  the  majority  of 
folk  attach  to  the  word  prayer  is  but  very  incom- 
mensurate to  the  part  which  it  occupies,  not  only 
in  the  development  of  the  life  of  the  individual 
soul,  but  in  the  life  and  lot  of  the  world  at  large. 


CRYING  113 

On  the  other  hand,  the  force  of  prayer  has  been 
understood  by  the  really  spiritual  writers  of  every 
school  and  of  all  time.  They  knew  that  prayer 
is  one  of  the  secrets  of  life ;  that  he  who  lives, 
prays,  and  he  who  prays,  lives  ;  that  he  who  prays 
works,  and  he  who  works  prays  ;  and  so  large  a 
part  of  the  spiritual  life  is  comprised  in  the  one 
word  prayer,  that  we  find  them  describing  the  soul's 
advance  by  the  character  of  the  prayer  which  springs 
from  it. 

For  instance,  Madame  Guyon,  in  her  precious 
A  B  C  of  the  spiritual  life,  introduces  her  book 
with  the  title,  "A  Short  and  Easy  Method  of 
Prayer  "  ;  St  Theresa  describes  the  degrees  of  the 
soul's  progress  as  degrees  of  prayer,  styling  them 
Prayer  of  Quiet,  Prayer  of  Union,  and  so  on  ;  St. 
John  of  the  Cross  names  his  mystical  way  as  the 
Ascent  of  Mount  Carmel,  the  meaning  of  which  is 
evidently  similar  to  the  other.  And  so,  no  doubt 
one  might  give  other  instances,  confining  ourselves, 
of  course,  to  the  experimental  Christians  only,  and 
letting  the  divines  and  theologians  alone.  May 
we  not  say  that  our  dear  Lord  Himself  was  care- 
ful enough  both  in  example  and  teaching  to  lead 


114  STRONG 

His  scholars  along  this  way,  making  them  aware 
that  a  great  part  of  the  soul's  education  was  educa- 
tion in  prayer  ?  He  began  by  making  them  feel 
that  they  really  didn't  know  what  prayer  meant, 
though  they  had  been  taught  to  say  prayers  almost 
since  they  could  speak.  So  He  brings  them  to  a 
point  where  they  say,  "  Lord,  teach  us  to  pray,  as 
John  also  taught  his  disciples  "  :  encourages  them 
further  by  admonitions  to  ask,  seek,  and  knock  ; 
He  tells  them  that  if  they  ask  for  bread  and  fish, 
they  won't  get  stones  and  snakes  (but  doesn't  say 
that  if  you  ask  for  a  snake,  your  Father  will  be 
so  good  as  to  give  it  to  you) ;  leads  them  on  until 
they  acquire  the  sense  of  the  need  of  a  larger  faith  ; 
instructs  them  that  prayer  is  the  function  of  an 
organ  of  the  spiritual  life,  and  must  be  as  constant 
and  persistent  as  breathing  or  other  natural  func- 
tions, so  that  men  ought  always  to  pray  and  not 
to  faint,  and  that  they  should  keep  awake  at  all 
times  praying,  if  they  are  to  be  found  worthy  to 
stand  before  the  Son  of  man.  Finally,  one  of  His 
last  counsels,  just  before  the  last  great  objective 
teaching  of  His  own  Life  on  the  subject,  connects 
the  force  of  their  prayer  with  the  state  of  their  life, 


CRYING  115 

saying,  "If  ye  abide  in  Me,  ye  shall  ask  what  ye 
will  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you." 

Now  the  verse  which  we  quoted  at  the  beginning 
speaks  of  certain  prayers  as  of  great  force  ;  we 
infer  that  there  are  weak  prayers  as  well  as  strong 
ones — poor  little  wingless  things  that  cannot  rise 
into  the  Celestial  Audience-Chamber. 

Hermas  describes  such  when  he  says,  "  The 
prayer  of  a  sad  man  has  no  power  to  climb  to  the 
altar  of  God."  And  it  is  of  great  importance  that 
we  should  know  the  reasons  which  contribute  to 
the  strength  or  weakness  of  a  prayer.  On  such 
points  we  shall  find  the  Apostle  James  to  be  an 
authority  ;  for  he  was  the  great  intercessor  of  the 
early  Church,  the  man  of  whom  they  said  that  his 
knees  were  worn  hard  like  the  knees  of  a  camel. 
And  being  in  addition  the  most  practical  of  all  the 
teachers,  we  shall  find  in  his  writing  (in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  Luther  called  it  an  "  epistle  of  straw  ") 
something  far  more  valuable  than  a  merely  specu- 
lative theology.  For  instance,  more  than  any  one 
else,  he  supplies  us  with  conditions  for  the  success 
of  that  great  experiment  which  we  call  prayer. 
Prayer  of  the  powerful,  operative  sort,  has  its  con- 


ii6  STRONG 

ditions.  We  cannot  disregard  them.  I  have  seen 
a  man  in  the  Cavendish  laboratory  attempt  to  make 
a  magnetic  measurement  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  some  large  iron  pipes,  and  neither  of  us  could 
tell  the  cause  which  made  the  apparatus  behave  so 
unreasonably.  And  prayers  are  often  hindered 
in  a  similar  way  by  unobserved  disturbing  causes. 
St.  James  supplies  us  with  several  hints  : — 

(i.)  That  a  double-minded  man  need  not 
expect  to  receive  anything  from  the 
Lord  ;  a  waverer,  driven  with  the  wind 
and  tossed, 
(ii.)  That  ye  ask  and  receive  not,  because 
ye  ask  amiss,  that  ye  may  consume  it 
upon  your  lusts. 

(iii.)  That  it  must  be  believing  prayer,  if  it  is 
to  be  effectual ;  let  him  ask  in  faith  ; 
the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save  the  sick. 

(iv.)  It  is  the  prayer  that  springs  from  a 
rectified  heart  and  life ;  the  prayer  of 
a  righteous  man  is  of  great  force. 

Hermas,  too,  a  Christian  father  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, whom  we   quoted   before,  supplies   us  with 


CRYING  117 

some  suggestions.  One  would  almost  think,  for 
some  reasons,  that  he  had  been  one  of  St.  James's 
immediate  disciples,  for  he  is  fond  of  using  that 
same  word  double-minded  (more  exactly  double- 
souled),  speaks  of  visiting  the  orphans  and  widows, 
etc.  Thus  we  find  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  the 
book  of  Commands  as  follows  (the  book  being  of  a 
date  immediately  subsequent  to  the  apostles) :  "  He 
said  unto  me,  put  away  from  thee  all  double- 
mindedness,  and  have  no  more  division  of  heart 
concerning  petitions  from  God,  saying  in  thyself, 
How  shall  I  be  able  to  ask  and  receive  anything 
from  the  Lord,  having  sinned  so  greatly  against 
Him  ?  Reason  not  on  this  wise,  but  turn  to  the 
Lord  with  all  thy  heart,  and  ask  from  Him  with- 
out hesitation,  and  thou  shalt  know  His  large- 
heartedness,  that  He  will  certainly  never  leave 
thee,  but  will  fulfil  thy  soul's  request.  God  is  not, 
as  men  are,  mindful  of  wrongs  done  to  Him,  but 
forgetful  of  them,  and  He  hath  compassion  upon 
His  workmanship.  Do  thou,  therefore,  cleanse 
thy  heart  from  all  the  vanities  of  this  age,  and 
from  things  spoken  of  before,  and  ask  from  the 
Lord  and  thou  shalt  receive  all  things  ;  and  of  all 


ii8  STRONG 

thy  petitions  thou  shalt  not  fail  of  one,  if  thou  ask 
of  the  Lord  with  an  unhesitating  heart.  But  if 
thou  doubtest  in  thy  heart,  thou  shalt  receive  none 
of  thy  petitions.  For  they  that  are  doubtful 
towards  God,  are  the  double-minded  men,  and 
they  shall  obtain  none  at  all  of  their  petitions. 
But  they  that  are  perfectly  sound  in  the  faith  ask 
for  all  things  in  reliance  upon  the  Lord,  and  receive 
them,  because  they  ask  without  hesitation  and 
with  no  dividedness  of  heart.  For  every  double- 
minded  man,  unless  he  repent,  will  scarcely  be 
saved.  Cleanse,  therefore,  thy  heart  from  double- 
mindedness,  and  put  on  faith,  for  she  is  mighty, 
and  believe  in  God,  that  thou  shalt  receive  all  thy 
requests  that  thou  dost  make.  And  if  ever  when 
thou  hast  made  request  thou  be  somewhat  longer 
in  receiving  thy  petition  from  the  Lord,  be  not  of 
a  double-mind,  that  thou  didst  not  swiftly  receive 
thy  soul's  request,  for  certainly  it  is  on  account  of 
some  temptation  or  some  sin  that  thou  art  longer 
in  receiving  thy  petition.  Therefore,  do  not  cease 
making  thy  request,  and  thou  shalt  receive  it,  but 
if  thou  faintest  and  art  of  doubtful  mind  in  thy 
petition,  blame  thyself  and  not  Him  who  gives  to 


CRYING  119 

thee."  It  amounts  to  this,  that  to  have  power  in 
prayer  is  only  possible  as  long  as  and  in  propor- 
tion as  we  walk  with  God. 

Looking  at  it  in  another  light,  observe  that 
real  prayer  is  connected  in  a  most  intimate  manner 
with  the  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Perhaps 
this  is  what  is  meant  by  the  word  rendered  by  us 
"energised,"  but  "effectual  and  fervent"  in  the 
English  Version.  Certainly  in  almost  every  case 
where  the  word  occurs,  it  has  reference  to  the 
operation  of  God  or  the  devil.  And  if  this  be  so, 
the  prayer  must  be  a  possessed  prayer,  and  the 
praying  man  a  possessed  person,  and  so  again  we 
are  brought  face  to  face  with  the  foundations  of 
mighty  prayer  lying  in  a  holy  life.  And  what 
else  is  taught  by  the  Apostle  when  he  says,  "  The 
Spirit  maketh  intercession  in  the  Saints  according 
to  the  will  of  God  "  ? 


THE    SENTINEL    OF   THE   HEART 


X 

THE  SENTINEL  OF  THE  HEART 

"  The  peace  of  God,  which  exceeds  all  understanding,  shall  guard 
your  hearts  and  your  thoughts  in  Christ  Jesus." — Phil.  iv.  7. 

One  of  the  best  tests  of  the  value  of  a  religion, 
and  of  the  degree  of  the  truth  enshrined  therein, 
is  found  in  the  nature  and  permanence  of  the  peace 
which  it  imparts.  For  it  is  a  fact  that  all 
religions,  or  almost  all,  and  especially  those  which 
have  taken  a  wide  grasp  of  the  hearts  and  minds 
of  men,  profess  to  bring  peace  to  the  worshipper. 

The  Roman  Church,  with  its  history  un- 
paralleled alike  for  saintliness  or  sin,  with  its  offers 
to  resolve  all  doubts  and  to  forgive  all  iniquities, 
affords  a  haven  and  anchorage  for  those  whose 
bark  has  been  torn  by  the  stormy  winds  of  private 
judgment.     It  is  not  one  or  two  who  have  been 


124  ^-^^  SENTINEL 

brought  within  her  pale  in  search  of  peace  ;  and, 
indeed,  the  bosom  of  Mother  Church  would  be  an 
attractive  resting-place,  if  it  did  not  strike  us  on 
the  other  hand  as  being  too  much  like  the  effort 
of  one  baby  to  carry  another  of  its  own  size. 

What  is  true  of  the  Roman  Church  is  true  of 
the  religion  which  has  prevailed  even  more  widely 
amongst  the  human  race  ;  if  we  ask  the  Buddhist 
teachers  what  is  offered  to  the  inquiring  soul  in 
their  sacred  books,  or  what  is  revealed  as  possible 
in  the  experience  of  those  men  amongst  them  who 
have  made  the  greatest  progress  in  mind-and-spirit 
lore,  they  would  talk  to  you  of  Nirvana,  or,  as  I 
think  it  was  understood  by  them  at  the  first,  the 
extinction  of  the  individual,  even  as  a  candle-flame 
is  blown  out.  And  however  perverted  their  belief 
may  have  become,  they  seem  in  early  days  to  have 
contemplated  a  real  destruction  of  self, — the  flame 
of  self-love  and  self-life  being  so  put  out  that  it 
should  never  more  be  a  flame,  and  should  not  long 
be  a  spark.  For  instance,  their  writings  tell  us 
such  things  as  follow  : — 

"  To  him  who  has  finished  the  path  and  passed 
beyond  sorrow,  who  has  freed  himself  on  every 


OF  THE  HEART  125 

side,  and  thrown  away  all  fetters,  there  is  no  more 
fever  of  grief"  "  Such  an  one  remains  like  the 
broad  earth  unvexed  ;  like  the  pillar  of  the  city 
gate,  unmoved  ;  like  a  pellucid  lake,  unruffled." 

"  Tranquil  is  the  mind,  tranquil  the  words  and 
the  deeds,  of  him  who  is  thus  set  at  rest  and  made 
free  by  wisdom."  "  The  heart,  scrupulously  avoid- 
ing all  idle  dissipation,  diligently  applying  itself  to 
the  holy  law  of  Buddha,  letting  go  all  lust,  and 
consequent  disappointment,  fixed  and  unchange- 
able, enters  on  Nirvana." 

And  so  in  many  other  features  we  may  trace 
the  doctrine  of  inward  peace  as  taught  in  the 
Buddhist  religion.  A  similar  feature  is  to  be 
traced  in  the  Mohammedan  faith,  if  we  are  right 
that  Islam  means  surrender  to  the  will  of  God,  and 
the  Mussulman  a  surrendered  person ;  and  certainly 
there  have  been  those  in  the  great  religion  of  the 
East  who  held  surrender  in  a  higher  sense  than 
that  of  the  fatalism  which  we  generally  attach  to 
the  words. 

Now,  when  we  speak  of  different  religions  as 
in  the  foregoing,  it  is  not  that  we  want  to  cultivate 
the  science  of  comparative  religious  anatomy ;  all 


126  THE  SENTINEL 

we  want  to  say  is  this,  that  just  as  a  very  rough 
observation  convinces  us  that  corresponding  organs 
in  different  creatures  imply  corresponding  uses  and 
similar  needs,  so  we  discern  various  methods  of 
bringing  peace  to  the  soul  of  man  in  those  religions 
which  have  to  the  greatest  extent  prevailed  in  the 
world. 

We  are  right  to  read  these  features  carefully, 
for  they  are  the  watermarks  of  the  absolute  religion 
(which  we  believe  the  religion  of  Jesus  to  be),  which 
is  to  gather  in  the  men  of  every  tribe  and  kindred 
and  nation,  and  to  unite  all  the  children  of  God 
who  are  scattered  abroad. 

We  are  too  much  accustomed  to  look  on  these 
foreign  religionists  merely  in  the  light  of  compassion, 
as  people  for  whom  we  must  send  the  missionary, 
make  the  regular  collection  and  offer  the  periodic 
prayer  ;  and  we  make  maps  of  the  world  in  which 
we  paint  in  all  the  religions  which  differ  from  our 
own  in  black,  or,  if  not  in  black,  in  other  colours 
only  for  the  sake  of  distinction.  But,  if  we  were 
wise,  we  should  see  that,  where  we  paint  black,  it 
should  be  black  with  streaks  of  light ;  and  we 
should  learn,  too,  to  see  that  our  own  faith  would 


OF  THE  HEART  127 

need,  if  accurately  represented,  to  be  a  white  colour 
checked  and  streaked  with  spots  of  the  intensest 
black.  For  not  all  that  is  called  Christianity  is 
of  Christ. 

We  say,  then,  that  one  of  the  characteristics  of 
the  absolute  religion  is  that  it  offers  to  the  soul  a 
real  and  permanent  peace.  Here  is  a  test  for  us  : 
a  real  peace ;  it  must  not  be  based  on  deceptive 
methods  :  a  permanent  peace,  which  neither  things 
present  can  disturb,  nor  life  nor  death  dispel. 
And  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  has  spoken  of  the  heart 
of  man  as  never  man  spake,  made  this  one  of  the 
keystones  of  His  teaching,  as  it  was  the  corner- 
stone of  His  living. 

"  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are 
heavy-laden,  and  I  will  rest  you." 

"  These  things  I  have  spoken  unto  you  that  in 
Me  ye  might  have  peace." 

And  thus  we  hear  our  blessed  Lord  whispering 
to  the  world  of  to-day,  a  tired  world  from  the  first, 
but  never  so  tired  as  now  ;  through  these  lips  comes 
God's  answer  to  the  cry  of  five  hundred  millions 
of  Buddhists,  of  the  millions  of  Islam,  of  the 
Romanist,  the  Mystic,  the  Quaker — to  all,  in  one 


128  THE  SENTINEL 

breath,  the  message  comes  ;  yes,  to  me,  even  to 
me  Thou  speakest  when  the  word  is  of  that  hidden 
lasting  peace  which  Thou,  Lord  Jesus,  canst  bestow. 
And  if  it  was  a  marvel  that  at  Pentecost  every 
man  should  hear  in  his  own  language  the  wonderful 
works  of  God,  much  more  is  it  a  marvel  to  speak 
to  all  hearts  than  to  speak  with  all  tongues. 

And  what  is  more  than  speech,  even  that  which 
goes  to  the  heart,  is  the  action  by  which  Thou, 
Lord,  hast  proved  Thy  speech.  Thy  life  has  given 
Thee  the  right  to  speak  of  what  Thou  givest  as 
Thy  peace.  So  quiet  wast  Thou  that,  but  for  the 
wrong-doers  that  crossed  Thy  path.  Thou  wouldst 
have  seemed  to  be  passionless  ;  yea,  some  have 
even  spoken  of  Thee  as  the  "cold  Galilean,"  be- 
cause of  the  marvellous  rest  of  Thy  soul  in  Thy 
Father's  arms. 

Not  only  is  it  a  test  of  the  truth  of  a  religion 
whether  it  imparts  a  real  and  permanent  peace, 
but  it  is  also  a  test  of  our  attainment  in  the  true 
religion,  when  we  find  it,  for  us  to  examine  the 
depth  and  character  of  our  peace. 

We  determine  the  religion  of  Jesus  to  be  the 
Absolute  Religion,  because  it  imparts  the  highest 


OF  THE  HEART  129 

peace  in  the  manner  most  suited  to  the  soul  of 
man,  and  most  consistent  with  the  character  of 
God. 

We  verify  our  own  position  in  the  Life  by  the 
simple  test  of  the  experience  of  Peace  which  we 
enjoy. 

It  is  easy  to  be  tranquil  under  certain  circum- 
stances ;  and  there  are  times  when  most  of  us 
perceive  the  connection  between  quiet  and  holiness. 
But  then  circumstances  change,  and  what  becomes 
of  the  peace  ?  Drake  and  his  men  cross  the 
isthmus  of  Panama,  and  from  a  peak  they  see  be- 
low them  the  smiling  ocean  on  the  farther  side ; 
so  fair  and  still  it  looked  that  it  received  the  name 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean  ;  but  then  there  were  two 
things  to  be  noticed :  first,  it  was  a  fine  day ; 
next,  they  probably  thought  the  sea  the  smoother 
because  of  the  height  from  which  they  surveyed 
it.  And  it  is  easy  to  talk  of  peace  on  fine  days, 
and  when  we  are  high  up  above  trouble  ;  but  our 
test  must  be  when  we  are  in  the  midst  of  the 
waters,  when  the  waves  thereof  roar  and  are 
troubled.  Is  it  Pacific  Ocean  then  ;  or  do  we  find, 
as  may  be  those  early  adventurers,  that  it  was  too 


I30  THE  SENTINEL 

hastily  named  ?  Certain  it  is  that  many  Christians 
are  disappointed  because  they  do  not  always  realise 
the  peace  and  blessedness  of  which  sometimes  they 
have  glimpses  and  enjoyment. 

It  is  our  practical  every-day  test  of  our  standing 
in  grace  ;  a  man  who  is  exploring  an  old  well 
lowers  a  candle  before  him,  knowing  that  where 
that  can  live,  he  can  live  ;  the  Christian's  test-flame 
is  the  peace  of  God  ;  when  that  fails,  he  ought  to 
know  that  it  is  safe  to  go  no  farther.  This  peace 
is  like  some  magic  mirror,  by  the  dimness  growing 
on  the  surface  of  which  we  may  discern  the  breath 
of  an  unclean  spirit  that  would  work  us  ill.  As 
the  Apostle  says,  "  Let  the  peace  of  God  rule  {i.e. 
be  arbiter  or  umpire)  in  your  hearts."  We  may 
almost  say  that  for  most  of  us  it  is  true  that  what 
we  can  do  quietly  we  can  do  safely.  So  we  see 
more  and  more  the  importance  of  having  the  heart 
and  thought  kept  by  the  Peace  of  God. 

Some  render  the  passage,  "  The  peace  of  God 
shall  stand  sentry  over  your  heart " ;  and  this 
expresses  it  very  well.  Where  this  sentry  stands, 
nothing  forbidden  can  pass  either  within  or  with- 
out, except  the  watcher  be  first  destroyed.      If  the 


OF  THE  HEART  131 

thirst  for  wealth  or  fame  enter  into  a  man's  heart, 
it  is  over  the  slain  body  of  the  sentry  ;  our  peace 
is  gone  when  these  things  enter  in.  And  many 
such  like  things  there  are  which  choke  the  word 
and  destroy  the  peace.  Then  we  turn  and  look 
at  it  in  another  light,  passing  on  from  thoughts 
concerning  the  Peace  of  God  to  higher  ones  about 
the  God  of  Peace,  who  has  promised  to  sanctify 
us  wholly  and  to  preserve  spirit,  soul,  and  body 
blameless  unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 


THY    FATHER    IN    SECRET 


XI 

THY  FATHER  IN  SECRET 

"Alone,  and  yet  not  alone." — ^John  xvi.  32. 

Of  all  religious  ideas,  the  grandest  is  that  which 
lay  at  the  root  of  the  monastic  system, — that 
religion  is  the  wedlock  of  the  soul  to  God ; 
although  the  method  in  which  this  idea  was 
exemplified  was  a  faulty  one,  or,  at  any  rate,  one 
which  rapidly  became  corrupt,  even  if  it  was  not 
so  at  first.  The  wonderful  worship  of  the  middle 
ages  at  least  taught  men  to  serve  God  in  retire- 
ment of  life  and  unworldliness  of  spirit,  and  gave 
demonstration  of  holiness  and  righteousness  in 
men  who  did  their  work  in  the  world  even  though 
they  lived  out  of  it,  and  in  women  who  were  con- 
tent to  view  the  busy,  jocular,  combatant,  pleasure- 
seeking  community  only  from  behind  the  bars  of 


136  THY  FATHER 

the  house  of  rest  that  they  had  chosen.  It  was  a 
noble  object-lesson  of  the  spiritual  life  ;  and  though 
the  symbols  used  to  express  it  may  have  become 
valueless,  the  truth  that  they  taught  remains  yet, 
that  if  a  man  or  woman  seeks  the  highest  good, 
there  must  be  for  such  an  isolation  of  the  soul 
from  the  ordinary  course  of  life  and  thought  in  the 
world  around  us ;  we  must  afford  ourselves  facili- 
ties for  a  sacred  loneliness  with  God. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  St.  Luke,  prob- 
ably more  than  any  other  evangelist,  gives  record 
of  solitariness  and  vigil  and  secret  communion  ; 
and  it  may  be  that  it  was  a  line  of  experience  with 
which  he  was  familiar  ;  certainly  he  was  careful  to 
chronicle  the  lonely  hours  of  the  Saint  when  God 
and  the  soul  are  at  one,  and  it  needs  no  prophet 
to  pray  that  the  Lord  will  open  the  young  man's 
eyes  that  he  may  see.  What  a  summary  of 
experience  is  contained  in  those  words  which 
describe  the  ministerial  preparation  of  John  the 
Baptist, — "  He  was  in  the  desert  until  the  day  of 
his  showing  unto  Israel,  waxing  and  growing 
strong  in  spirit"  (Luke  i.  80).  Then  he  speaks 
of  the  Master,  of  His  being  led  by  the  Spirit  into 


IN  SECRET  137 

the  wilderness  (Luke  iv.  i)  ;  of  His  departing  and 
going  into  a  desert  place  (Luke  iv.  42)  ;  of  His 
withdrawal  into  the  wilderness  for  prayer  (Luke  v. 
16);  of  His  going  out  into  a  mountain  to  pray,  and 
continuing  all  night  in  prayer  to  God  (Luke  vi.  1 2). 

Would  it  not  be  better,  instead  of  making  the 
commonplace  assertion  that  there  was  nothing  of 
the  ascetic  about  Jesus  Christ,  for  us  to  recall  to 
mind  His  teaching  at  another  time,  that  every 
disciple  shall  be  perfected  as  his  Master  (Luke 
vi.  40),  and  to  inquire  whether  we  might  not  do 
well  to  love  and  covet  retirement,  even  of  an 
external  character,  as  a  means  to  the  attainment 
of  that  perfection  ? 

Retirement  with  God  is  the  only  preparation 
for  success,  and  the  only  medicine  for  failure 
whether  it  be  Moses  wondering  at  the  burning 
bush  in  the  mount  of  God,  or  Elijah  eating  angel's 
bread  under  the  juniper-tree.  We  shall  do  well 
to  observe  also  that  it  has  been  a  feature  of  all  the 
great  religions  of  the  East ;  the  secret  of  all  strong 
souls  lies  in  those  times  of  loneliness  when  they 
were  bound  hand  and  foot  as  captives  to  the 
Everlasting  Will.     We  deride  such  nowadays  ;  call 


138  THY  FATHER 

them  mystic,  contemplationist,  fanatic.  George 
Fox,  sitting  about  in  lonely  places,  reading  his 
Bible  in  hollow  trees,  is  hard  to  understand.  But 
if  it  were  anything  but  religion  that  was  in  quest, 
people  would  not  laugh.  Tell  them  of  Demos- 
thenes living  in  a  cellar,  with  head  half  shaved  to 
prevent  his  appearing  in  public,  and  there  will  be 
admiration  ;  was  it  any  wonder  that  he  became 
an  orator?  But  let  a  man  be  as  bent  on  becom- 
ing a  saint ;  let  him  give  up  one  hour's  frivolous 
talk  in  order  to  commune  with  his  Father  in 
secret ;  then  we  suspect  that  such  an  one  is 
becoming  righteous  overmuch.  Mind,  no  one 
complains  of  a  man  being  anxious  to  be  wise  over- 
much, or  rich  overmuch,  healthy  overmuch  ;  he 
may  burn  the  midnight  oil  and  study,  watch  the 
markets  and  scheme,  frequent  the  gymnasium  and 
develop  his  muscle,  and  no  one  will  find  fault ; 
but  to  spend  time  on  what  is  at  least  as  important 
as  wisdom,  wealth,  and  health,  and  in  a  sense 
involves  them  all, — this  is  fanatical,  and  not  to  be 
encouraged  or  approved.  We  miss  much  through 
our  want  of  separation  from  the  world,  and  through 
our  deficiency  in  insulation,  or,  which  is  the  same 


IN  SECRET  139 

word,  in  isolation.  If  we  go  into  a  science  labora- 
tory and  examine  the  great  brass  machines  for 
holding  electrical  charges,  we  find  that  they  are 
all  mounted  on  glass  feet.  These  are  the  insul- 
ators, and  if  it  were  not  for  them,  no  electricity 
would  remain  on  the  surface  ;  as  it  is,  electricity 
is  hard  enough  to  keep  in  charge,  even  with  the 
best  insulators.  And  we  know  sometimes  what 
it  is  to  have  life  and  power  pass  into  us  from 
above,  but  we  don't  know  how  to  retain  it,  because 
we  have  never  learnt  true  retirement  of  heart  and 
insulation  of  life.  There  is  good  teaching  in  the 
following  passage  from  one  of  Madame  Guyon's 
letters  :  "  It  is  very  desirable,  and  in  the  earlier 
part  of  your  ministry  especially,  that  you  should 
spend  a  portion  of  your  time — and  that  perhaps 
not  a  small  portion — with  God  in  retirement  Let 
your  own  soul  be  first  filled  with  God's  spirit,  and 
then  and  not  otherwise  will  you  be  in  a  situation 
to  communicate  the  Divine  fulness  to  others.  No 
man  can  give  what  he  has  not ;  or  if  a  man  has 
grace,  but  has  it  in  a  small  degree,  he  may  in 
dispensing  to  others  impart  to  them  what  is 
necessary  for  himself" 


I40  THY  FATHER 

Now  if  any  one  were  to  ask  what  is  the  especial 
strength  of  England  as  regards  other  empires  and 
commonwealths,  the  answer  would  be  that  it  lies 
in  her  insular  position, — in  the  "  silver  streak " 
that  parts  her  from  France  ;  and  the  true  Christian 
is  girt  round  with  separating  grace. 

We  might  draw  two  pictures  to  remind  us  how 
we  may  become  strong  for  God  :  one  of  the  solitary 
vigil  of  the  Great  Shepherd  keeping  watch  over 
His  flock  by  night ;  the  other  of  the  little  company 
who  waited  with  joined  hands  and  hearts  in  the 
upper  room  for  the  coming  of  the  Comforter  ; 
these  two  pictures  representing  the  solitude  of  a 
single  soul  and  of  united  souls  with  God. 

By  such  silent  communion  God  will  especially 
prepare  us  for  service  and  for  suffering. 

Some  one  spoke  to  John  Nelson,  making  un- 
favourable comparison  of  John  Wesley  with  a 
prominent  religious  teacher  of  the  day ;  and  Nelson 
replied,  "  He  has  not  stayed  in  the  upper  room 
like  John  Wesley."  We  need  our  silent  prepara- 
tions for  speech  ;  to  go  forth,  like  Ezekiel,  into  the 
plain  to  find  the  glory  of  the  Lord  ;  or  like  Daniel 
to  the  river-side,  where  we  may  meet  one  like  unto 


IN  SECRET  141 

the  Son  of  man  ;  or  like  the  two  who  walked  into 
the  country  whom  Jesus  met,  and  with  whom  He 
talked  till  He  made  their  hearts  burn. 

Especial  preparation  of  this  kind  is  necessary 
for  the  prosecution  of  great  enterprises.  We  are 
reminded  of  this  if  we  observe  what  followed  the 
all-night  of  prayer  of  the  Lord  Jesus, — how,  when 
it  was  day,  He  called  unto  Him  His  twelve 
apostles,  and  with  them  went  down  into  the  plain 
to  heal  diseases  and  them  that  were  vexed  with 
unclean  spirits.  Napoleon  leaves  his  army,  as 
they  near  the  Russian  frontier,  and  spurs  his  horse 
until  at  last  in  solitary  contemplation  he  sees 
before  him  the  river  that  separates  him  from  the 
country  that  he  is  going  to  invade  :  a  striking 
picture,  made  more  so  by  the  thought  of  the  luck- 
less termination  of  the  enterprise.  And  some  of 
us,  whom  God  will  call  to  great  enterprises  for 
Him  that  will  not  end  in  failure,  will  know  what 
it  is  to  make  a  similar  solitary  advance  ;  and  in 
silent  waiting  upon  God  to  watch  Him  unroll 
before  us  the  map  of  our  journey,  telling  us  what 
we  must  do  and  what  we  must  suffer  for  Him  : 
and  the  silence  makes  us  strong  when  the  voice 


142  THY  FATHER  IN  SECRET 

of  God  has  broken  in  upon  it.  And  we  will  not 
marvel  if  to  us,  as  to  Saul  of  Tarsus,  the  answer 
to  the  question,  "  What  wilt  thou  have  me  to 
do  ? "  should  come  in  the  form,  "  I  will  shew 
him  how  great  things  he  must  suffer "  ;  for  our 
thoughts  will  turn  again  to  Him  who  said,  "  Rise 
and  let  us  be  going"  from  the  solitude  of  the 
upper  room  to  the  deeper  retirement  of  the  olive 
grove  ;  who  went  a  little  farther,  even  from  those 
He  loved  most,  as  He  prayed,  "  Not  My  will  but 
Thine  be  done "  ;  and  then  took  His  way  alone, 
and  yet  not  alone,  to  be  the  Redeemer  and  Reviver 
of  the  souls  of  men. 


TESTS    OF    FAITH,    LOVE,    AND 
RIGHTNESS 


XII 


TESTS  OF  FAITH,  LOVE,  AND  RIGHT- 

NESS 

What  are  the  experimental  bases  of  our  Chris- 
tianity? and  whereby  shall  we  know  that  we  are 
of  the  truth  and  assure  our  hearts  before  Him  ? 

Our  answers  to  such  questions  may  appear  dis- 
couraging, but  it  is  far  better  that  we  should 
experience  discouragement  (not  that  we  would 
really  wish  to  say  a  word  to  throw  back  the  weak- 
est believer  from  his  faith),  than  that  we  should 
attempt  to  fill  ourselves  with  the  formulas  that 
the  Pharisees  do  eat. 

Some  time  ago,  in  discussing  the  definite  points 
and  peculiar  characteristics  of  Christian  life  and 
experiences,  we  took  as  a  comparison  the  changes 
of  state  in  a  material  body,  from  solid  to  liquid, 


146  TESTS  OF  FAITH,  LOVE, 

and  from  liquid  to  gaseous.  We  observed  that, 
just  as  in  nature  the  most  important  practical  and 
theoretical  investigations  were  made  upon  bodies 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  those  points  where  they 
undergo  a  change  of  state,  so  it  is  also  true  in  the 
world  of  grace  that  our  most  valuable  observations 
and  inquiries  relate  to  certain  critical  points  in 
the  life — as  conversion  and  sanctification  ;  points 
which  may  sometimes,  like  the  freezing  and  boiling 
points  of  a  material  substance,  approach  almost,  if 
not  quite,  to  coincidence,  but  which,  like  them,  may 
be  very  widely  separated. 

Suppose,  then,  to  resume  our  figure,  we  were 
to  propose  to  ourselves  the  question,  "  How  shall 
I  know  whether  a  body  near  the  melting  point 
has  passed  from  the  solid  to  the  liquid  state  ? " 
In  some  cases  it  would  be  extremely  easy  to  give 
an  answer  :  with  ice,  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
we  should  simply  say  that  it  becomes  mobile ;  the 
word  of  the  Supreme  Law  having  gone  forth,  the 
waters  flow.  But  our  test  would  not  do  for  all 
liquids,  because  there  are  some  that  do  not  answer 
readily  to  it,  but  are  extremely  sluggish  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  their  melting  points,  so  that  they 


AND  RIGHTNESS  147 

seem  almost  solid  even  when  liquid.  We  are 
obliged,  then,  to  look  for  a  better  test,  and  we 
should  probably  observe  that  the  most  convenient 
would  be  found  in  the  fact  that  an  addition  of 
heat  produces  a  change  in  temperature  in  a  body 
that  has  passed  its  melting  point.  Place  a  ther- 
mometer in  melting  snow,  it  marks  zero  until  the 
snow  is  really  melted,  and  after  that  it  rises. 

Now,  in  a  similar  manner,  we  should  find  that 
many  of  the  tests  popularly  applied  to  discriminate 
spiritual  life,  are  only  partially  accurate  ;  and  since 
our  method  is  a  purely  experimental  one,  we  ought 
to  see  that  we  apply  proper  methods  of  inquiry 
in  an  accurate  manner. 

Our  question,  then,  is,  "  Whereby  shall  we 
know  that  we  are  of  the  truth  ? "  and  we  shall 
probably  look  to  Scripture  for  an  answer.  Indeed 
there  is  a  School  which  tells  us  positively  that  we 
must  try  the  condition  in  which  we  are  by  the  state 
ments  of  Scripture,  holding  up  the  Word  of  Life  as 
a  mirror  before  our  lives,  so  that  we  may  compare 
the  reflection  with  the  Divine  characteristics. 

And  provided  this  method  be  honestly  applied 
and   not   by  the  mere   selection  of  pet   texts,  it 


148  TESTS  OF  FAITH,  LOVE, 

is  probable  that  it  is  a  correct  one.  We  will,  then, 
take  the  ist  Epistle  of  John,  in  which  we  find  the 
most  definite  assertions  about  personal  experience, 
and  try  ourselves  by  it. 

First  of  all,  there  is  the  simple  and  beautiful 
statement,  "  Beloved,  now  are  we  the  children  of 
God  "  ;  most  of  us  would  quote  it  freely  ;  but  our 
scientific  method  would  at  least  require  that  we 
should  harmonise  the  supposed  fact  with  the 
asserted  consequences,  "  Therefore  the  world 
knoweth  us  not,  even  as  it  knew  Him  not "  ;  and 
if  we  find  that  the  world  smiles  on  us  in  a  way 
that  it  did  not  upon  our  Lord,  then  we  must  either 
conclude  (i.)  that  we  were  mistaken  in  the  fact,  or 
(ii.)  that  while  the  word  we  in  the  first  part  of  the 
sentence  is  capable  of  extension,  the  us  in  the 
second  is  restricted  in  its  reference  to  St.  John  and 
the  despised  and  rejected  people  with  him — with, 
perhaps,  a  possible  reference  to  subsequent  isolated 
instances,  down  to  the  Salvation  Army,  and  a  few 
more  in  our  own  day ! 

Or,  taking  another  simple  assertion,  "  We  know 
that  we  have  passed  (crossed  over,  transmigrated) 
from  death  unto  life."     We  use  the  words  to  con- 


AND  RIGHTNESS  149 

vince  people  of  the  definite  nature  of  conversion  ; 
we  say  it  is  as  real  as  a  passage  from  death  to  life, 
and  as  truly  marked  ;  it  is  the  advent  of  a  new- 
life  in  the  soul.  But  can  we  honestly  go  on  to  base 
the  assertion  on  the  fact  of  our  own  love  to  men, 
to — souls  ?  Would  we  venture  to  stand  or  fall 
by  this  test,  "  I  have  loved,  I  love,"  and  not  be 
afraid  that  our  good  angels  would  rise  up  to  bear 
witness  against  us  as  we  said  it  ? 

A  third  passage  comes  before  us  ;  for  some  one 
will  say,  "  We  believe,  and  is  it  not  written  that 
he  that  believeth  hath  everlasting  life  ?  "  and  may 
we  not  rest  upon  the  assurance  conveyed  by  the 
present  tense  of  the  verb  employed  ? 

Without  going  at  present  into  the  consideration 
of  this  passage  from  the  Gospel,  let  us  say,  roughly, 
that  the  test  of  the  existence  of  a  spiritual  life  pre- 
sented by  St.  John  in  the  Epistle  is  of  a  threefold 
character  :  it  is — 

(a)  A  test  of  faith:  he  that  believeth  that 
Jesus  is  the  Christ  is  born  of  God. 

(/3)  A  test  of  love :  he  that  loveth  is  born  of  God. 

(7)  A  test  of  righteousness  :  every  one  that 
doeth  righteousness  is  born  of  Him. 


ISO  TESTS  OF  FAITH,  LOVE, 

And  if  these  are  true  criteria  of  the  life  within 
us,  each  of  these  statements,  with  its  necessary 
consequences,  may  be  predicated  of  that  soul  in 
which  the  Heavenly  Life  has  been  brought  forth. 

For  instance  :  we  must  not  take  (a)  and  reject 
ifi)  and  (7) ;  nor  must  we  disregard  the  conse- 
quences which  are  a  necessary  part  of  our  experi- 
mental verifications. 

Of  these  three  passages  we  should  most  prob- 
ably elect  to  be  tried  by  (a)  ;  for  it  is  compara- 
tively easy  for  us,  especially  at  the  present  day,  to 
hold  to  an  intellectual  assent  to  a  proposition. 
In  fact  the  difficulty  is  that  the  sieve  is  too  wide  ; 
for  almost  every  one  believes  that  Jesus  is  the 
Christ.  It  must  be  evident  then  that  we  have 
misunderstood  the  text  or  omitted  the  conse- 
quences which  follow  from  it.  Now  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  statement  is  that  whatsoever  is  in 
this  holy  birth  has  victory  over  the  world  ;  and  if 
we  apply  the  test  of  an  overcoming  life  to  our 
supposed  faith,  things  look  very  different.  Dis- 
couraged, we  pass  on  to  the  second  criterion  :  if 
not  by  faith,  let  us  be  judged  by  love. 

Since  we  all  of  us  love  something  and  some 


AND  RIGHTNESS  151 

persons,  we  shall  perhaps  find  ourselves  safe  under 
this  test. 

But,  upon  examination,  we  perceive  that  he 
does  not  simply  mean  love  of  God,  or  love  of 
Jesus,  or  a  merely  selective  human  love  ;  but  love 
of  the  brethren  and  of  the  children  of  God  in  a 
universal  manner.  He  twists  it  backwards  and 
forwards,  saying  at  one  moment,  "  He  that  loveth 
God,  let  him  love  his  brother  also  " ;  at  another, 
"  If  he  love  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen, 
how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen  "  ? 
and  again,  "  By  this  we  know  that  we  love  the 
children  of  God,  when  we  love  God,"  and,  breaking 
off  abruptly,  "  when  we  love  God,  and  keep  His 
commandments."  Certainly  if  love  is  universal 
and  coincident  with  obedience,  we  shall  scarcely 
be  able  to  face  this  test. 

So  we  pass  on  to  the  third  criterion — that  of 
righteousness ;  and  here,  perhaps,  we  may  expect 
some  help,  knowing  how  careful  the  Lord  is  to 
judge  us  by  the  light  we  have,  how  generously 
He  measures  every  effort  after  holiness,  and  blesses 
every  pang  of  the  spiritual  hunger.  We  may  not 
be  able  to  grasp  the  creeds  which  others  recite  so 


152  TESTS  OF  FAITH,  LOVE, 

fluently  ;  we  may  not  be  able  to  give  easy  expres- 
sion to  the  affections  which  thrill  within  us  ;  may, 
perhaps,  wonder  if  we  love  at  all  ;  but  at  least  we 
can  say  this, — we  want  to  be  right.  But  then  we 
are  confronted  with  the  difficulty  that  what  God 
means  is  not  that  we  should  want  to  be  right,  but 
that  we  should  be  right.  He  explains  and  char- 
acterises the  spiritual  birth  by  the  words  of  the 
Apostle,  "He  that  doeth  righteousness  is  righteous 
even  as  Christ  is  righteous."  "  He  that  is  born  of 
God  doth  not  sin."  "  Every  one  that  is  born  of 
Him  sinneth  not."  It  almost  seems  as  if  the 
Apostle  of  Love  had  been  remetamorphosed  into 
the  Son  of  Thunder,  and  were  calling  down  fire 
from  heaven  upon  us  to  devour  us.  And  do  not 
let  us  say  that  this  is  merely  St.  John's  extravagant 
way  of  preaching  holiness  ;  for  it  is  the  language 
in  which  the  teachers  of  the  time  generally  held 
and  transmitted  the  Christian  doctrine.  Thus 
Ignatius,  writing  to  the  Ephesians,  adopts  the 
three  tests  of  faith  and  love  and  righteousness : 
"  No  man  professing  the  faith  sinneth ;  nor 
does  he  who  professeth  love,  hate ;  the  tree 
is   known  by  its  fruits  ;    so,  likewise,  those  who 


AND  RIGHTNESS  153 

profess  to  be  Christ's  shall  be  seen  from  their 
deeds." 

And  Polycarp  presents  the  life-criteria  in  the 
same  manner  :  "  You  shall  be  built  up  in  the  faith 
which  is  given  to  you  :  before  which  is  love  to 
God  and  to  Christ  and  to  the  neighbour ;  for  he 
who  has  love  is  far  from  all  sin."  And  so  we 
might  multiply  instances. 

What  shall  we  then  say :  Is  a  new  Sinai  set 
up  on  the  square  of  the  New  Jerusalem  ?  or  is  it 
a  sense  of  good  things  not  seen  as  yet  that  makes 
us  cry,  "  Search  me,  O  God  ;  .  .  .  and  see  if  there 
be  any  lack  of  faith  or  love  or  righteousness  in 
me,  and  lead  me  in  the  way  everlasting  "  ? 


THE    ETERNAL    IDEA 


XIII 
THE  ETERNAL  IDEA 

*'  See  that  thou  make  all  things  according  to  the  pattern  shewed 
thee  in  the  Mount." — Heb.  viii.  5. 

When  we  speak  of  a  pattern,  we  generally  under- 
stand by  it  some  temporary  or  partial  representa- 
tion of  an  idea  that  is  to  be  or  has  been  realised 
— such  as  the  plan  of  a  house,  or  the  mould  of  a 
casting,  or,  to  take  a  more  definite  illustration, 
like  the  little  silver  models  of  the  Temple  of  Diana 
at  Ephesus,  or  the  carved  wooden  lions  which  are 
sold  in  the  shops  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Lion  Monument  at  Lucerne.  In  these  last  two 
instances  we  see  that  the  greater  is  made  the 
pattern  of  the  less ;  and  it  is  important  for  us  to 
remember  this ;  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  God 
showed  to  Moses  a  diminutive  tabernacle,  a  sort 


158  THE  ETERNAL  IDEA 

of  doll's  house,  in  accordance  with  which  he  was 
to  construct  his  house  of  skins,  or  that  He  im- 
pressed upon  him  the  nature  of  the  priestly  and 
sacrificial  worship  by  altars  and  offerings  of  a 
lower  degree,  of  small  quantities.  It  is  more  like 
what  Philo  explained  it  to  be,  that  the  outer  world 
is  fashioned  upon  the  model  of  the  World  of  Ideas 
whose  centre  is  the  Divine  Word  ;  or  like  Sweden- 
borg's  Doctrine  of  Correspondence,  by  which  we 
may  learn 

Cup,  column,  candlestick, 
All  temporal  things  related  royally, 
And  patterns  of  what  shall  be  in  the  Mount. 

But,  to  get  a  more  simple  and  exact  idea,  let  us 
observe  the  means  which  those  who  have  studied 
the  heavens  have  taken  to  illustrate  astronomical 
facts.  There  is  an  astronomical  toy  called  the 
orrery,  which  can  be  made,  by  proper  mechanism, 
to  represent,  with  tolerable  accuracy,  the  actual 
motions  of  the  planets  in  their  orbits,  and  which 
can  serve  to  illustrate  the  phenomena  which  from 
time  to  time  occur  in  the  heavens.  Now  the 
tabernacle  of  Moses  is  precisely  like  this  ;  it  is  a 
religious  orrery,  a  means  of  representing  religious 


THE  ETERNAL  IDEA  159 

truths  and  bringing  home  religious  facts  to  the 
consciousness  of  those  who  are  unable  to  study  the 
skies  and  the  lunar  and  planetary  theories  for  them- 
selves. But  no  one  who  wishes  to  be  a  real  astrono- 
mer would  be  content  with  winding  up  the  orrery 
and  watching  the  balls  go  round  ;  he  would  know 
that  the  heavens  must  be  studied  for  themselves,  if 
one  was  ever  to  understand  them  accurately  :  and 
no  one  who  wishes  to  be  more  than  moderately 
religious  can  remain  satisfied  with  the  meagre 
assistance  obtained  by  ritual  and  externalism. 

We  observe,  too,  that  no  cne  who  wished  to 
chronicle  fresh  facts  would  go  to  the  orrery  to 
learn  them.  He  would,  for  instance,  turn  his 
spectroscope  on  the  sun,  and  not  on  the  great  ball 
which  represents  it  in  the  mechanism,  if  he  wanted 
to  determine  the  constituents  of  that  great  lumi- 
nary. And  let  us  remember  that  we  shall  never 
get  at  any  fresh  religious  truth  by  means  of  ritual ; 
the  proper  destination  of  all  orreries,  religious  or 
otherwise,  is  the  museum.  But  meanwhile  the 
heavens  still  go  round,  which  are  the  work  of  Thy 
fingers  ;  and  the  moon  and  the  stars,  which  Thou 
hast  ordained,  can  still  be  studied,  even  when  all 


i6o  THE  ETERNAL  IDEA 

the  imitations  of  the  universe  have  been  swept 
away.  We  desire  for  ourselves  an  emancipation 
from  all  that  is  merely  traditional  in  the  religious 
life ;  we  would  refer  back  our  lives  to  the  original 
thought  of  God  concerning  them.  Our  life  needs 
emendation,  which  can  only  take  place  satisfac- 
torily by  reference  to  the  original  design.  We 
are  often  perplexed  in  our  study  of  Scripture,  by 
various  readings  and  incorrect  texts,  and  we  wish 
that  we  could  attain  to  something  like  the  posses- 
sion of  an  exact  copy,  if  it  were  only  of  a  single 
gospel.  We  read  of  Tischendorf  finding  the  pre- 
cious Codex  in  the  monastery  on  Mount  Sinai, 
and  cannot  forbear  wishing  that,  perhaps,  in  some 
of  the  waste  places  of  the  East,  there  might  be 
found  a  copy,  not  of  the  fourth  or  fifth  century, 
but,  if  possible,  of  the  first. 

Suppose,  for  example,  that  a  copy  of  the  Gospel 
of  St.  Matthew,  signed  with  his  own  hand,  should 
come  into  our  possession,  in  which  it  should  be 
stated  that  "  I,  Matthew,  sometime  a  tax-gatherer 
for  the  Romans,  and  now  a  collector  of  dues  for 
the  Almighty,  and  one  of  them  that  are  set  to  ask, 
'  How   much  owest   thou  unto  my   Lord  ? '  have 


THE  ETERNAL  IDEA  i6i 

written  this  book,  by  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
wherein  may  be  heard  many  voices  of  the  Lord  ; 
and  lo !  some  of  them  have  already  come  to  pass, 
and  the  rest  must  shortly  be  done.  And  may  the 
peace  of  him  that  wrote  this  book  abide  also  with 
them  that  read."  The  supposition  is  not  so  very 
absurd,  and  if  it  could  be  demonstrated  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  learned  (a  people  hard  to  per- 
suade) that  the  Book  and  the  hand  were  genuine, 
what  a  number  of  questions  would  be  settled. 
An  end  would  be  made  of  all  glosses  and  emenda- 
tions of  the  text  over  which  there  have  been  so 
many  disputes,  and  there  would  be  an  excision  of 
all  parts  that  have  been  added  by  later  hands. 

But  we  must  admit  that  the  corruptions  of 
the  sacred  text  are  insignificant  in  comparison 
with  the  deviations  that  we  find  in  our  own  lives 
from  the  original  thought  of  God  concerning  us. 
Registered  and  chronicled  in  heaven  is  the  mind 
and  will  of  our  Father  about  us  ;  registered  and 
chronicled  also  are  the  defects  which  have  marred 
the  handiwork  of  God  in  the  soul.  We  do  not 
always  set  out  with  the  intention  of  spoiling  our 

souls,  and  of  keeping  them  from  being  holy  books, 

M 


i62  THE  ETERNAL  IDEA 

in  which  he  that  runs  may  read  ;  but  as  a  matter 
of  fact  what  self  writes  in  the  margin  soon  creeps 
into  the  text ;  and  what  we  write  between  the 
lines  soon  becomes  a  part  of  the  manuscript. 

Let  who  says 
The  soul's  a  clean  white  paper,  rather  say 
A  pahmpsest,  a  prophet's  holograph, 
Defiled,  erased,  and  covered  by  a  monk's — 

we  may  discern  perhaps 
Some  upstroke  of  an  Alpha  and  Omega 
Expressing  the  Old  Scripture. 

But  if  we  are  to  undergo  a  real  emendation,  it 
must  be  by  detecting  something  more  than  an  up- 
stroke of  the  Divine  Will ;  it  must  be  by  reference 
to  the  original  plan  of  God,  and  by  a  surrender 
to  the  same. 

In  the  chapels  at  the  back  of  the  choir  of 
Cologne  Cathedral  are  preserved  the  original  parch- 
ments on  which  are  drawn  the  plan  of  the  great 
minster.  All  the  centuries  through  which  this 
building  has  been  raising,  the  men  that  have  been 
working  at  it  have  had  in  reverence  the  original 
thoughts  of  the  master-minds  at  the  first:  and 
those  who  have  been  chosen  to  the  superintendence 


THE  ETERNAL  IDEA  163 

of  the  work  have  been  men  who  were  reckoned 
the  most  conversant  with  the  laws  of  the  Gothic 
architecture.  One  can  imagine  that  Archbishop 
Englebert  sleeps  the  more  softly  in  his  silver  shrine 
because  of  the  completed  work  of  to-day.  So  we 
speak  and  think  of  a  great  stone-temple,  the  work- 
ing out  of  an  idea  whose  details  were  at  first  but 
scantily  given,  carried  out  in  ages  during  which 
the  master-minds  that  planned  it  could  no  more 
be  consulted. 

And  yet  when  a  greater  and  more  perfect 
tabernacle  is  in  building,  not  planned  of  mortal 
thought,  and  whose  stones  were  too  heavy  to  be 
moved  by  mortal  hands,  how  little  reference  there 
is  to  the  plan  of  the  Founder,  how  few  that  are 
desirous  of  living  according  to  the  counsel  and 
will  of  God,  and  to  see  in  that  will,  not  a  mere 
legal  skeleton  of  the  structure,  but  a  pattern,  good 
and  acceptable  and  perfect,  with  no  detail  wanting 
for  those  who  have  eyes  to  see  and  ears  to  hear. 
Alas  !  that  our  lives  should  be  lived  so  much  at 
random  instead  of  being  so  fashioned  that  it  might 
be  said  over  the  completed  structure  at  the  last, 
"Whose  architect  and    craftsman    is    God."     In 


i64  THE  ETERNAL  IDEA 

Christianity  the  ideal  is  to  be  the  actual :  there  is 
to  be  no  "shooting  at  the  moon,  because  by  that 
means  you  reach  higher  than  by  aiming  at  a  tree  " 
(a  very  doubtful  statement  even  in  mechanics) ; 
what  God  wants  us  to  be  that  we  must  be ;  and 
if  He  says,  "  Be  ye  perfect,"  then  let  us  go  on  to 
perfection  and  reach  it.  The  Christian  is  called 
upon  by  his  Master  to  live  out  and  actualise  God's 
ideal  thought  concerning  him.  Upon  the  map  of 
his  life  is  already  marked  out  the  road  by  which 
he  is  to  reach  the  heavenly  city  ;  if,  at  least,  he 
reaches  it,  as  God  intends,  by  the  shortest  way. 
There  are  no  roundabout  roads  marked  on  the 
map  in  the  Mount,  and  yet  the  Divine  Plan  of  our 
life  will  be  found  inclusive  of  the  minutest  necessary 
details,  just  as  an  Ordnance  map  will  tell  you  each 
feature  of  interest  and  importance  as  you  go  from 
place  to  place.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
that  we  should  take  counsel's  opinion  about  our 
lives,  and  that  we  should  pray,  "  Lord,  what  wilt 
Thou  have  me  to  do?"  that  we  should,  if  need 
be,  weep  much,  until  the  Lamb  shall  take  off  the 
seals  from  that  book  of  life,  which,  in  the  archives 
of  the  celestial  city,  is  entitled  "  The  Life  of 


THE  ETERNAL  IDEA  165 

taken  from  the  Pattern  in  the  Mount "  ;  that  we 
should  learn  to  conform  ourselves  to  the  Divine 
original,  just  as  a  manuscript,  however  deformed 
by  glosses  and  traditions,  is  accurately  and  certainly 
emended  by  the  discovery  of  the  original  text ; 
that  we  should  know,  in  some  sense,  as  Christ  did, 
whence  we  come  and  whither  we  go ;  that,  as  He 
said,  we  also  might  feel  that  for  this  end  we  were 
born  and  for  this  purpose  we  came  into  the  world, 
that  we  might  bear  witness  to  the  truth  ;  that, 
with  Him,  too,  we  might  in  some  measure  be  able 
to  say,  "  The  son  can  do  nothing  but  what  he  seeth 
the  Father  do  "  ;  and  that  at  our  ending  it  might 
be  said,  "  He  lived  out  the  secret  thought  and 
counsel  of  the  Almighty." 

But  in  thinking  of  the  pattern  in  the  Mount 
as  a  pattern  of  life,  it  is  important  for  us  to  see 
that,  in  the  first  instance,  this  thought  was  presented 
to  us  in  connection  with  that  side  of  life  which 
we  call  worship ;  for  there  was  to  be  a  sanctuary 
made,  etc.,  nor  must  we  omit  to  get,  with  regard 
to  our  worship,  a  glimpse  into  the  thought  of  God 
beforehand,  consulting  the  oracle  in  advance  as 
did   men   in   the   old   days.     We   may  not   take 


1 66  THE  ETERNAL  IDEA 

voyage  without  the  very  best  map  that  can  be  had, 
lest  we  make  shipwreck  ;  nor,  because  we  have 
not  taken  pains  to  obtain  the  map,  may  we  content 
ourselves  with  creeping  round  shores  that  we  know 
we  ought  to  leave. 

We  must  not  separate  the  life  from  the  wor- 
ship ;  in  fact  they  are  one :  we  learn  that  from 
the  description  of  the  ceaseless  adoration  of 
those  nearest  the  throne  ;  they  rest  not  day  nor 
night  saying,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy."  Are  we  to  sup- 
pose from  this  that  their  existence  is  occupied 
in  the  mere  repetition  of  an  everlasting  Trisagion  ; 
or  that,  as  Beecher  once  said,  "  they  stand  like 
wax  candles  round  the  throne,  uttering  an  occa- 
sional Hallelujah  "  ?  Is  it  not  rather  God's  way  of 
showing  us  how  He  is  unceasingly  glorified  in 
those  who  live  nearest  Him,  whose  lives  worship 
Him? 

The  worship  must  be  continuous  with  the  life. 
I  have  a  thermometer  which  has  become  perfectly 
useless  because  the  air  has  broken  up  the  continuity 
of  the  alcohol ;  it  is  worth  next  to  nothing  as  an 
index  of  temperature.  And  little  can  we  learn 
from  any  soul  in  which  the  continuity  of  the  religious 


THE  ETERNAL  IDEA  167 

life  is  broken,  and  which  has  become  life  streaked 
with  worship. 

Now  let  us  learn  one  or  two  of  the  character- 
istics of  a  pure  life-worship. 

Out  of  the  worship  according  to  the  pattern  in 
the  Mount  all  respectability  has  been  differentiated  : 
the  Christian  religion  will  not  hold  caste  in  solution  ; 
it  precipitates  it  to  the  bottom  ;  its  founder  died 
the  death  of  a  slave  ;  how  could  they  give  the 
slave  a  back  seat  after  that?  On  the  contrary, 
they  gloried  in  the  name ;  Paul,  a  slave  and  an 
apostle  ;  a  slave,  and  so  eligible  for  the  honour  of 
crucifixion  ;  an  apostle,  and  so  sent  with  the  good 
news  of  life.  Respect  of  persons  holds  not  in 
heaven  ;  none  there  will  criticise  the  clay  out  of 
which  the  first  raiment  of  your  soul  was  made. 
What  need  is  there,  then,  that  we  should  leave  off 
holding  the  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  with  respect 
of  persons  (there  are  few  churches  where  the 
ministers  dare  to  preach  on  such  a  text  as  that). 
Let  us  have  done  with  such  classifications.  In 
Jesus  Christ  there  is  neither  barbarian  nor  Scythian, 
bond  nor  free,  town  nor  university,  but  Christ  is 
all,  and  in  all. 


i68  THE  ETERNAL  IDEA 

We  know,  too,  that  the  life-worship  to  which 
God  calls  us  consists  in  abandonment  and  surrender 
to  an  animating,  impelling  spirit.  "  The  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  will  come  upon  thee,  and  thou  shalt 
prophesy,  and  thou  shalt  be  turned  into  another 
man.  And  it  shall  be,  when  these  signs  are  come 
upon  thee,  that  thou  shalt  do  as  occasion  serve 
thee,  for  the  Lord  is  with  thee."  "Whither  the 
Spirit  was  to  go,  thither  was  their  spirit  to  go." 
The  highest  life  is  one  in  which  we  realise  not 
merely  surrender  to  the  Divine  Will,  but  harmony 
with  it,  so  that  the  rails  on  which  the  life -moves, 
the  human  and  Divine  wills,  become  strictly  parallel. 

A  surrendered  life  implies  surrendered  lips : 
this  is  the  key  of  true  worship  ;  every  one  having 
a  psalm,  an  interpretation  ;  ye  may  all  of  you 
prophesy.  The  ideal  worship  becomes  the  actual 
when  heaven  touches  earth,  as  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost — they  were  all  filled,  and,  by  conse- 
quence, they  all  ran  over.  Who  would  venture 
to  tell  the  woman  who  had  been  a  sinner,  that  it 
was  not  seemly  that  her  life  should  proclaim  the 
magnalia  Deiy  the  wonders  of  God  ;  my  lips,  she 
says,  have  touched  His  feet,  and  are  consecrated 


THE  ETERNAL  IDEA  169 

for  evermore.  Who  shall  tell  these  prophesying 
handmaidens  of  the  Lord  that  their  place  is  in  a 
different  spiritual  order:  "Are  there  two  inner 
courts,  they  will  reply,  to  the  New  Jerusalem  ?  " 

Whoso  hath  felt  the  Spirit  of  the  Highest 
Cannot  confound  nor  doubt  Him,  nor  deny ; 

Yea,  with  one  voice,  O  world,  though  thou  deniest, 
Stand  thou  on  that  side,  for  on  this  am  I. 


MORE    LIGHT 


XIV 
MORE   LIGHT 

"  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world." — Matt.  v.  14. 

There  is  a  great  stir  nowadays  about  improved 
methods  of  lighting  our  streets  and  houses.  Men 
began  with  torches  and  pine  splinters ;  then  they 
advanced  to  candles  and  oil  lamps ;  after  that  to 
coal  gas ;  and  now  we  are  coming  to  electricity. 
In  Paris  they  are  experimenting  with  an  electrical 
system,  and  we  shall  have  it  in  England  before 
long,  the  unmistakable  cry  of  the  natural  world 
being  "  More  light,  more  light." 

A  similar  experience  prevails  in  the  spiritual 
life,  whether  we  regard  that  life  in  the  isolated 
individual,  or  fix  our  attention  upon  the  dealings 
of  God  with  the  race  of  which  we  form  a  part. 
We  need,  in  fact,  an  improved  illumination.     It  is 


174  MORE  LIGHT 

plain  that  we  do  so.  The  light  of  Moses  is  not 
enough  for  us.  His  face  shines  indeed,  but  with 
a  glory  that  fades  away,  so  that  he  must  put  on  a 
veil  lest  they  should  detect  its  evanescence.  The 
prophets  of  old  days  are  like  the  flight  of  meteors 
across  the  sky — very  bright  while  they  last,  but 
no  settled  and  abiding  glory.  John  the  Baptist 
is  a  burning  and  a  shining  lamp ;  but  he  says  of 
himself,  "  I  must  decrease  "  ;  and  with  the  words, 
"  He  must  increase,"  we  are  pointed  on  to  Christ, 
the  true  Light  of  the  world,  which  if  any  man 
follow  he  shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall 
have  the  light  of  life  ;  who  gives  His  own  name 
and  character  to  those  whom  He  receives  as 
disciples,  telling  them,  "  Let  your  light  shine." 
And  the  individual  soul  begins  with  the  glimmer 
of  grace  and  the  spark  of  a  respondent  love,  and 
the  operation  of  the  Lord  improves  this  little  fitful 
glimmer,  and  develops  it,  until  it  becomes  a  clear 
and  strong  illumination,  by  which  we  may  read 
something  of  the  heart  of  God  towards  us,  and 
understand  that  in  the  spiritual  world,  as  in  the 
natural,  the  order  of  this  providence  is,  "  More  light, 
more  light."     Light,  that  we  may  know  our  way 


MORE  LIGHT  175 

more  accurately  ;  light,  by  which  we  may  work  ; 
light,  by  which  we  may  read  ;  light,  by  which  we 
may  help  others  to  walk  and  work  and  read ;  for 
"  ye  are  the  light  of  the  world,  and 

'  Heaven  doth  with  us,  as  we  with  torches  do, 
Not  light  them  for  themselves.'" 

God  makes  one  man  a  lamp  for  another.  Every 
saint  should  be  like  a  cranny  in  the  walls  of  heaven 
or  translucent  crystal  in  its  foundations,  letting  the 
glory  through.  There  is  a  glory  within  such  a 
one,  because  God  has  shined  in  his  heart :  there 
is  a  glory  without  him,  for  the  Spirit  of  glory 
and  of  God  resteth  upon  him.  Not  once  nor 
twice  has  the  Church  historian  to  record,  "They 
beheld  his  face,  as  it  had  been  the  face  of  an 
angel." 

Now  in  any  improved  system  of  illumination 
we  have  a  right  to  expect  that  one  of  its  charac- 
teristics will  be  its  capability  for  a  general  applica- 
tion. It  must  not  be  as  great  a  blaze  as  one's 
eyes  can  bear  in  the  principal  thoroughfares,  with 
thick  darkness  in  the  back  streets  and  lanes.  The 
improved  light  must  become  more  sun-like,  more 


176  MORE  LIGHT 

catholic,  that  is,  more  for  everybody,  must  rise 
upon  just  and  unjust ;  and  while  it  participates  in 
the  universality  of  the  sun,  it  must  share  also  the 
steadiness  of  the  stars.  Such,  too,  must  be  the 
better  life  to  which  God  calls  us,  not  narrowing  its 
sphere  from  day  to  day,  nor  fitful,  like  a  star  of 
the  first  magnitude  at  one  moment  and  of  the 
ninth  a  fortnight  after,  but  burning  with  a  steady 
patient  zeal  towards  all  men  that  God  has  made. 
The  light  of  love  will  survive  the  light  of  enthusi- 
asm, as  Christ  outlasts  John  the  Baptist ;  enthusi- 
asm must  be  swallowed  up  of  love. 

A  lighted  lamp  is  no  respecter  of  persons  ;  it 
shines  in  all  directions  and  upon  all  people  and 
things,  being  an  imitation,  within  its  measure,  of 
the  sun,  concerning  whom  it  is  said,  "  There  is 
nothing  hid  from  the  heat  thereof."  Is  there  this 
property  of  radiation  about  the  light  that  God  has 
given  you  ?  Have  you  learnt  and  practically 
entered  into  the  truth  that  the  supreme  love  is 
also  the  universal  love,  and  that  God  is  no 
respecter  of  persons  ?  "  It  gives  light  unto  all 
that  are  in  the  house  "  :  every  soul  truly  won  for 
God  is  marked  with  this  token,  "  For  the  sake  of 


MORE  LIGHT  177 

God  and  a  perishing  world."  But  perhaps  you 
will  say,  "  My  light  is  so  small  that  I  cannot  be  a 
help  or  a  witness  to  any  ;  I  have  not  light  enough 
to  show  any  the  right  way."  Not  so  :  a  glow- 
worm in  the  hedge  can  tell  a  man  which  way  to 
walk,  if  it  will  only  shine.  We  may  not  all  of  us 
have  the  privilege  of  saying  with  John  Wesley, 
"The  worid  is  my  parish."  Our  parish  may  be 
small,  and  we  may  be  lights  indoors,  shining  for 
only  one  neglected  soul  in  the  house,  or  for  young 
ones  who  have  to  be  trained  for  the  Lord,  or  for 
the  men  on  our  own  staircase  in  college,  or  with 
whom  we  walk  in  afternoons. 

They  say  the  problem  about  the  electric  light 
is  the  difficulty  of  its  subdivision,  that  is,  of  its 
multiplication;  and  in  the  spiritual  world  the 
corresponding  necessity  is  to  multiply  and  repro- 
duce the  image  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ.  There 
was  a  similar  difficulty  in  the  early  days  of  photo- 
graphy ;  they  could  take  one  picture,  but  did  not 
know  how  to  produce  copies  from  it.  The 
Christian  religion  has  in  it  the  means  of  produc- 
ing not  only  one  Light  of  the  world  but  many — 
a  church  of  men  and  women  of  whom  it  may  be 

N 


178  MORE  LIGHT 

said,  as  to  the  disciples  at  the  first,  "  Ye  are  the 
h'ght  of  the  world."  But  will  something  within 
us  object  and  say,  "  Shining  means  burning  up  and 
burning  out :  the  candle  will  grow  shorter,  and 
the  battery  weaker "  ?  Now  here  we  get  at  the 
root  of  the  matter.  Truly  it  is  impossible  to  offer 
any  real  devotion  to  God,  or  perform  any  real 
service  to  man,  unless  we  are  willing  to  pay  the 
cost.  We  are  not  to  offer,  either  to  God  or  man, 
of  that  which  costs  us  nothing.  The  noblest 
thing  in  God's  world  is  a  lavished  life  ;  whereof 
God  has  given  us  plain  proof  in  this — that  "  He 
so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  Son  "  ;  and 
which  Paul  confirms  as  he  says  to  some  of  those 
to  whom  he  had  been  the  means  of  bringing  light, 
"  I  will  most  gladly  spend  and  be  spent  for 
you."  "  I  will  burn  up  for  you,  and  then  when  I 
am  burnt  out,  I  will  be  content  with  the  mere 
candle-end  of  a  life,  extinct  for  the  love  of  Jesus." 
And  let  us  remember,  too,  that  old  proverb,  that 
"  You  can't  burn  a  candle  at  both  ends."  If  our 
life  has  been  lighted  at  one  end  for  God,  we  must 
not  burn  it  at  the  other  for  selfish  enjoyments 
and  ambitions.     The  work  that  God  has  called 


MORE  LIGHT  179 

you  to  do  is  a  burner  that  will  take  all  the  gas 
that  you  can  supply. 

Now  suppose  that  every  time  a  candle  is  lighted 
here,  a  star  were  to  shine  out  up  yonder.  How 
eager  we  should  all  be  to  make  the  face  of  heaven 
sparkle !  we  should  take  every  candle  and  lamp 
that  we  could  lay  hands  on,  light  them  up,  and 
watch  for  the  gleaming  of  the  new  wonder  in  the 
sky.  Does  that  seem  strange?  Did  you  never 
read  that  "  They  that  are  wise  shall  shine  as  the 
sun,  and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness  as 
the  stars  for  ever  and  ever "  ?  The  lamps  and 
candles  in  God's  world  do  become  suns  and  stars  ; 
the  illumination  that  you  will  have  by  and  by 
will  depend  on  the  little  candle  that  you  are 
to-day  ;  and  if  you  curtail  your  service  for  God 
and  man  down  here,  you  will  clip  the  wings  and 
shear  away  the  strength  of  the  angel  that  you 
hope  to  be. 

O  Lord,  that  I  could  waste  my  life  for  others, 

With  no  ends  of  my  own  ! 
That  I  could  pour  myself  into  my  brothers, 

And  live  for  them  alone ! 


OVER-OVERCOMING 


XV 

OVER-OVERCOMING 

"We  are  more  than  conquerors." — Romans  viii.  37. 

The  Apostle  coins  a  word  to  suit  his  experience. 
We  should  render  it  exactly  by  saying,  "  In  these 
things  we  over-conquer,"  imitating  the  formation 
of  similar  words  in  our  language,  such  as  "  over- 
master," '*  over-do."  More  forcibly  we  might  say, 
"In  all  these  things  we  over-overcome."  Cover- 
dale  gives  the  sense  of  it  well  in  his  translation, 
"  We  conquer  far."  Observe  some  of  the  ways  in 
which  this  excess  and  extravagance  of  victory  may 
take  place,  for  it  is  as  if  one  should  win  a  victory 
over  a  foe  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  him  from 
ever  troubling  us  again.  Our  conquest  over 
special  sin  is  to  be  of  this  character.  We  are  not 
to  be  content  with  winning  the  field  while  the  foe 


i84  OVER-OVERCOMING 

retires  to  some  more  secure  position  from  which 
he  will  have  to  be  dislodged.  It  is  never  meant 
that  we  should  sin  the  same  sin  twice,  the  Lord's 
purpose  concerning  us  being  shown  in  the  Exodus 
of  the  children  of  Israel :  "  The  Egyptians  which 
ye  see  to-day,  ye  shall  see  them  no  more  again 
for  ever."  "  Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more." 
"  Neither  do  I  condemn  thee,  go  and  sin  no 
more."  There  is  a  passage  in  Miss  Havergal's 
life  which  narrates  how,  after  having  been  angry 
with  a  servant,  the  word  of  comfort  came  to  her 
through  a  friend  :  "  Perhaps  this  may  be  the  last 
time  that  you  will  ever  be  so  overcome." 

And  then  our  victories  are  to  leave  us  stronger 
than  before.  This  will  seem  quite  contrary  to  the 
order  of  nature,  in  which  seldom  is  there  a  battle 
without  garments  rolled  in  blood,  and  where  the 
victory  often  costs  as  much  to  the  victors  as  to 
the  vanquished.  A  great  general  has  said  that 
nothing  is  half  so  terrible  as  a  battle  lost,  except 
a  battle  gained.  But  to  be  more  than  conquerors  ! 
to  rise  the  stronger  for  the  strife  even  while  we 
strive !  this  is  what  is  involved  in  the  Christian 
song  of  jubilee  in  the  Eighth  of  Romans. 


OVER-OVERCOMING  185 

We  over-overcome  because  of  the  completeness 
of  the  victory.  In  most  campaigns  it  is  by  the 
balance  of  battles  fought  that  the  war  is  decided. 
Seldom  does  it  happen  that  all  the  victory  is  on 
one  side :  and  even  then  there  will  be  virgin 
fortresses  that  never  have  been  stormed,  over 
which  no  alien  flag  has  ever  floated,  which  may 
be  yielded  indeed  by  treaty,  but  not  taken  by 
force.  The  over -conquering  Christian  can  say 
with  the  invading  Israelites,  "  There  was  not  one 
city  too  strong  for  us  :  the  Lord  God  delivered  all 
unto  us." 
And  in  the  strength  of  this  I  rode.  .  .  . 

And  brake  through  all,  and  in  the  strength  of  this  come 
victor. 

The  triumphant  scenes  of  the  Apocalypse  are 
not  all  future ;  but  even  now  we  know  something 
of  living  and  reigning  with  Christ  in  a  fellowship 
above  sin  and  above  sorrow.  For  it  was  of  sorrow 
rather  than  of  sin  that  the  Apostle  was  speaking. 
Our  principle  is  one  of  holy  indifference — an  ex- 
perience far  removed  from  mere  apathy.  We  do 
not  simply  say  with  Buddha  that  sorrow  drops  off 


i86  OVER-OVERCOMING 

from  him  who  has  finished  the  path,  as  water 
drops  from  a  lotus  leaf.  We  are  not  sure  whether 
the  sorrows  always  do  disappear  from  the  burdened 
life  like  that.  But  when  they  do  not  so  pass  away, 
the  drop  is  turned  to  honey  in  the  cup  of  the 
flower  ;  it  is  really  the  richer  for  its  burden,  and 
so  may  well  be  content. 

And  now  how  do  we  come  to  this  place  of 
triumph  ?  By  what  means  is  it  granted  us  to 
enter  so  fully  into  the  songs  which  shall  one  day 
resound  through  the  universe  ?  "  Through  Him 
that  loved  us."  It  is  alliance  with  God  that  is 
the  secret.  The  three  steps  of  the  mystics  are 
Purification^  Illumination^  and  Union  ;  and  simple 
as  the  statement  is,  it  is  a  better  theology  than 
many  another  of  much  larger  dimensions.  Many 
people  do  not  understand  this  alliance  in  which 
we  are  led  into  union  with  God,  through  the  Holy 
Spirit.  They  think  it  is  more  like  the  old  story 
of  the  dwarf  and  the  giant,  who  went  a  warfare 
together,  in  which  expedition  the  dwarf  lost  his 
arms  and  legs,  and  was  only  saved  from  imminent 
death  in  each  conflict  by  the  happy  arrival  of  the 
giant.      One   can   scarcely   blame   the   dwarf  for 


OVER-OVERCOMING  187 

breaking  up  the  partnership.  We  must  under- 
stand that  in  Christianity  the  dwarf  is  the  giant, 
that  the  despised  deformed  puny  child  of  faith  is, 
when  he  recognises  his  own  weakness  and  leans 
upon  his  own  God,  big  with  the  force  that  rolls 
the  stars  along.  The  might  of  God  is  in  him  : 
and  though  he  may  have  no  armour  nor  sword  to 
match  the  Philistine,  he  will  come  home  carrying 
his  head  for  all  that ;  for 

Man's  weakness  leaning  upon  God, 
Its  end  can  never  miss. 


THE   END 


Printed  by  R.  &  R.  Clark,  Edinburgh 


'"imiSfllll IMIli llS?i5f,l ,.§f "•'"^T'  Ubrari« 


1    1012  01246  8924 


1 


